Something We Kinda See Every day — The Magical QR Code!
My friends, learning never stops and the creation of technology is quickly changing. Technology not only changes the way we live, but it also challenges our assumptions. Since I started learning how to programme, I ask questions about how applications and components were created and why they are impactful to our everyday lives.
During my programming exploration, a small thing caught my attention — QR codes! I was curious about how these images were created and the history behind this magical technology.
Short for “Quick Response code,” QR codes are square barcodes first developed in Japan. Unlike traditional UPC barcodes, which are made up of a number of horizontal lines, a QR code can be captured more quickly and can contain more information.
In our daily life, there’s one thing that may be the closest to the QR code, and we pass it often between hands— Business cards. QR codes are similar as they are small containers that hold information that can be passed around to one device to another device through cameras and applications. We can label the codes to display, or lead to, more detailed information. Also, since 1994 QR codes were first designed in Japan and it spread fast to businesses all over the world. I’m sure many of us can not go about our daily life without seeing one QR code.
The QR code doesn’t require any advanced technology to store data. Instead, it is rendered as small black and white squares on a piece of paper. Usually, QR codes are read by designated scanners which are not expensive to produce as they are included in most modern mobile operating systems. All you need to do is download the app or open your default camera application. So, what’s inside each code? Let’s do a fundamental walk-thru on how these little dots work.
Comparing with regular barcodes, QR codes have one advantage: two-dimensional labeling. Instead of labeling the data with numbers(horizontal barcode), now we can label items based on many different data types. It works like magic and is extremely cheap to make. Overall, QR codes can hold 100 times more data than a regular barcode.
A general QR code has three big dots at the three corners of a square, and these dots store what type of data the QR code saves. The remainder of the smaller ones are the patterns that can mark detailed data utilizing the chart pattern to mark what is written.
The sequences of the pattern determine how the data is placed within the QR code. A colored pattern can also be rendered in a specific order that marks data by order. That’s how URL links and numbers are set by QR codes to create sensible data that can be shared among two or more people.
Here is another type of break down of how the QR code works.
There are so many usages of the QR code, from the basic labeling of products in a magazine to processing payments in the restaurants… the results are endless.
The future is very bright for the QR code. Especially in regard to augmented reality tech products and also with modern online marketing. One challenge is that the code must take up enough space to be scanned by a camera or application, therefore it needs to have a minimum size.
These are a few simple explanations of what I learned about the QR code and its history. Below are the resources used for my research.
