The term "baudot code" refers to a character encoding invented by Émile Baudot in the late 19th century. The spelling of "baudot" is phonetically represented as /bəʊˈdoʊ/. This is pronounced with a schwa sound in the first syllable, followed by a long "o" sound and a soft "d" sound. The second syllable is pronounced with a long "o" sound and a slight dipthong onto the stretched "o" sound. In technical contexts, such as telecommunications and computing, the term "baudot code" remains frequently used today.
Baudot Code, also known as the Murray Code, is a binary character encoding scheme that was widely used in early telecommunications systems to transmit text messages over telegraph lines. Developed by Émile Baudot in the 1870s, it was the first practical implementation of a mechanical teleprinter, paving the way for more advanced communication technologies.
The Baudot Code consists of a set of unique five-bit codes, each representing a specific character. This encoding scheme allows for the transmission of 32 different characters, including the alphabet (both uppercase and lowercase letters), numbers, and a few special characters such as punctuation marks and carriage returns.
One of the key advantages of the Baudot Code was its efficiency in transmission, as it required fewer data bits than other encoding schemes. This made it suitable for use in early telegraph systems, where bandwidth and transmission speeds were limited.
With the rise of more advanced communication technologies such as teletypewriters and computer-based systems, the Baudot Code gradually became obsolete. It was superseded by more efficient coding schemes like ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) and EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code). Today, the Baudot Code is rarely used except in historical contexts, serving as a landmark in the evolution of telegraphy and data encoding.
The word "Baudot code" is named after its creator Émile Baudot, a French telegraph engineer. Émile Baudot developed this coding system in the 1870s for telegraph communication. The Baudot code was widely used for teletypewriters and early teleprinters. The name "Baudot code" honors Émile Baudot's contribution to the field of telecommunications.