How Does a ‘Barcode’ Work and Why Did It Become So Popular?

A barcode is like a special picture that tells machines what something is. When you scan it with a scanner, it reads the black and white lines and turns them into numbers or letters. It became popular because it made counting, checking prices, and keeping track of things much faster and easier for stores.

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Examples

When you scan a barcode on your cereal box, the scanner reads it and tells the store what kind of cereal it is.
A barcode helps the cash register know how much money to charge for each item when you're done shopping.
Libraries use barcodes on books so they can quickly check out or return them.

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Categories: Technology · barcode,technology,scanning,data encoding