Why is barcode scanning so quick and accurare, but OCR even for digital text is kinda bad?
In: Technology
OK: Barcodes and QR codes have simple, predefined shapes and rules. Because of these strict rules, they are either read correctly or they aren’t read at all (ie you can’t read half a barcode because that’s not a barcode).
Language is _totally_ different. There’s different fonts, text sizes, things that look like letters but maybe aren’t, things that aren’t letters but look like them. Is that an I or a pillar? If you want some clever on-the-fly stuff you’ve got to account for what they look like at weird angles in different lighting.
(Also, in general: OCR scanned from a book is pretty good and has been for a long time so 😛 )
You’re basically asking “why are computers good at numbers and not good at languages”: the answer is just that’s how they work.
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