!!! Overview
[{$pagename}] is an optical, machine-readable, representation of[ data]

[{$pagename}] the [data] usually describes something about the object that carries the [{$pagename}]. 

Originally [{$pagename}] systematically represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or one-dimensional. Later two-dimensional (2D) codes were developed, using rectangles, dots, hexagons and other geometric patterns in two dimensions, usually called [{$pagename}] although they do not use bars as such. 

[{$pagename}] originally were scanned by special optical scanners called [{$pagename}] readers. Later applications software became available for devices that could read images, such as smartphones with cameras.

[{$pagename}]s became commercially successful when they were used to automate supermarket checkout systems, a task for which they have become almost universal.  [Universal Product Code] ([UPC]) is the "Standard" used for these activities.

Their use has spread to many other tasks that are generically referred to as [Automatic Identification and Data Capture] ([AIDC]). 

Other systems have made inroads in the AIDC market, but the simplicity, universality and low cost of barcodes has limited the role of these other systems until technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) became available after 2000.

!! More Information
There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:
[{ReferringPagesPlugin before='*' after='\n' }]
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* [#1] - [Barcode|Wikipedia:Barcode|target='_blank'] - based on information obtained 2017-04-10