HISTORY151 - Barcodes
The other day, Pat and I were sitting in an examining room at my doctor’s office, with the door closed, awaiting my doctor. On the back of the door were several offers of medical information and/or services - each with its corresponding modern barcode type, called a QR code. Barcodes have been around almost as long as we have, but it seems that lately, the advertising world has been saturated with them. Since familiarity isn’t necessarily the same as knowledge, and I found myself pretty ignorant of the development and multiple uses of barcode, it looked like another good learning subject for a blog. So, this blog will cover the history of barcodes. Following an introduction to the two principal types of barcodes, linear and matrix codes, I will discuss the history of each, how they work, how they’re used, a snapshot of the future of barcodes, and end with some interesting tidbits about barcodes. As usual, I will list my principal sources at the e...