A barcode is a machine-readable representation of data in the form of lines and spaces of varying widths.
Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver invented the barcode and obtained a patent for it in the US in 1952. The extension of thin and thick bars to Morse code was the basis of the invention.
Barcodes are used for a variety of purposes, including inventory management, tracking of products during shipping, and point-of-sale transactions.
Barcode is celebrating its 50th birthday on 3rd April 2023.
Barcodes can be read by specialized barcode scanners, which use lasers or cameras to decode the information in the barcode.
QR codes are a type of two-dimensional barcode that can be scanned using a smartphone or other mobile device.
The use of barcodes has become increasingly common in industries such as healthcare, where they are used to track medical devices and medications.