Image
EAN-13	9780764339103
Product Name	Final Thoughts: Eternal Beauty In Stone
Language	English
Category	Book / Magazine / Publication
Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon ~ 0764339109
SKU	0764339109
Price New	24.92 US Dollars    (curriencies)
Price Used	16.71 US Dollars    (curriencies)
Width	1 inches    (convert)
Height	11.3 inches    (convert)
Length	8.6 inches    (convert)
Weight	37.6 ounces    (convert)
Author	John Thomas Grant
Page Count	160
Binding	Hardcover
Published	10/28/2011
Long Description	The story of life and death in America as told through beautiful cemetery art photography accompanied by meaningful epitaphs from cemeteries up to 300 years old. View 68 cemeteries in 224 beautiful photographs that breathe life into existence of those who have passed before us, and who are now enshrined for eternity in landscaped paradises. Within each placid scene and through heartfelt words displayed upon markers, join photographer John Thomas Grant in his one-of-a-kind study of an American tradition.
Similar Items	9780709054955: Stories In Stone: A Field Guide To Cemetery Symbolism And Iconography 9780819573018: Carved In Stone: The Artistry Of Early New England Gravestones 9780747554080: Carved In Stone: The Artistry Of Early New England Gravestones 9780738817408: Carved In Stone: The Artistry Of Early New England Gravestones 9780670868063: Beautiful Death: The Art Of The Cemetery (Penguin Studio Books) 9780810393974: The American Resting Place: 400 Years Of History Through Our Cemeteries And Burial Grounds 9780671400712: The American Resting Place: 400 Years Of History Through Our Cemeteries And Burial Grounds 9780618624270: The American Resting Place: 400 Years Of History Through Our Cemeteries And Burial Grounds 9780060090647: The American Resting Place: 400 Years Of History Through Our Cemeteries And Burial Grounds 9781423603146: Forever Dixie: A Field Guide To Southern Cemeteries & Their Residents View 19 more similar items
Created	11-21-2012 5:06:51pm
Modified	05-06-2017 9:47:17pm
MD5	379d6d8d8f19682140b583a5c124a0d5
SHA256	58e9ca6733038dfe46c6124eb93fece1be0aa9ae534204ef762941d47d71c752
Search Google	by EAN or by Title
Query Time	0.0255561

Article of interest

Barcodes are a graphical representation of information that can be easily read by machines. People read text easy enough but machines find this to be too complex so we use barcodes to simplify the process.

Barcodes can store numbers, letters and all the special characters. What can be stored in the barcode depends on which type of barcode is being used. But the basics of how a barcode works is the same regardless of what type of code it is, what information is stored in the barcode or what type of scanner is being used.

It all starts with the scan. The scanner, regardless of which type you are using, will examine the barcode image. The lines (or blocks in the case of 2D barcodes) will either reflect or absorb light. When we look at the barcode, we tend to see the dark stripes and think of those as the important parts. Those are the parts that absorb the light and the white parts reflect the light. So the scanners tend to see the barcodes in reverse of how we think of them. But the dark and light portions of the code on their own don't automatically become the information stored in the code. In most cases, it is the relative placement and size of each dark and light stripe (or block) that make up the information. There are also special markers that help the scanner know which direction the barcode is facing when it is scanned. This allows the scanning process to work even if the barcode is upside down when it is scanned. The scanner simply processes the scanned data in reverse in this case.

Taking a look at an oscolloscope screen as a scanner passes over barcode, you can see that the stripes reflect back light and the scanner registers the changes as high and low levels. So what looks like a simple image is really a rather complex set of layered encryption to store the data. The encryption isn't done to hide the information in this case. Instead it is done to make it easy for the machine to read the information. Since the base language of machines is binary (1 and 0) it is easy for them to read this type of information even if it takes several steps to turn this back into something that people can understand.

The size of each high and low are combined to make binary data. A series of 1 (one) and 0 (zero) values which are strung together then decoded into the actual information. Up to this point, the process is the same for all barcodes regardless of how they are stored. Getting the lines or dots into binary is the easy part for the machine. The next step is to make this binary code into something useful to people. That step depends on  which type of barcode is being scanned. Each type of barcode has its own encoding methode. Just like human languages, what seems to be two similar words (or barcodes in this case) could actually be two very different values even though they have the same basic letters (or bars).

So you can see that the scanning devices need to know not only how to turn the bars or dots into binary, but after they have done that they need to know how to turn that binary string into the original information. But regardless of the encoding process the basic steps are the same. Process the light and dark areas, convert them to binary, decode the binary, pass the information on to the receiving device which is normally a computer program of some sort.

Once the decoded data reaches the computer program, there is no telling how the information is to be used. The grocery store will use the information to keep track of the products you purchased as you go through the register. A manufacturer will use the code to identify where they are storing their parts. And shipping companies use the codes to keep track of the packages they are delivering.

Now that you know a little about the mechanical portion of the process, take some time to learn about the different types of barcode scanners and the different ways the information can be encoded into barcodes.