Lingo
• Carrier: does the shipping of The Thing
• UPS, USPS, FedEx
• Shipper: the creator of The Thing
• Warby Parker, Five Guys, Nike
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So…barcodes?
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UPC
Code39
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How you too can read a (UPC) barcode
Credit: http://barcode-labels.com/you-can-learn-read-barcode/
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What you’re
seeing
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420112159361289697090020989867
What the carrier is seeing
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420 11215 9361289697090020989867
The Identifier for Zip Codes
My actual zip code
What the customer impatiently stalks
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But how did the scanner
know how to do this
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Convert the electrical signal from the LED
reading to a digital representation
First things first.
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Image credit: carolinabarcode.com
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11000101000 11000100010
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Is the check digit correct?
Before we proceed.
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Convert to ASCII text based on decoder
11000101000
11000100010
= 40 = H
= 41 = I
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Output the final text
Allows us to go from
To this
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But how does this
relate to Python
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But before Python,
ZPL!
(Zebra Programming Language)
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Python!
(writing ZPL)
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These are important
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X,Y coordinates
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A “tall” number
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Shipping labels are fun
and all, but what else is
out there?
QR CODES!
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Quick Aside...
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Quick Response Code?!
• Uses our of alphanumeric representation -> integer
-> binary map
• Data is encoded in a zig zag fashion
• Level of error correction impacts the quantity of
data that can be stored within the QR Code
• Masking to appease the scanner
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But thankfully we have
ZPL
(+ Python)
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Unintuitive ZPL we didn’t have to write
Easy QR Code call
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How about a demo?
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Takeaway
• A lot is hidden in plain sight
• Why type something, when you can just scan
it?
• Barcodes are cool