Baudotkódot

Baudotkódot, also known as the Baudot code, is a character encoding scheme developed by Jean-Maurice-Émile Baudot in the late 19th century. It was one of the earliest forms of telegraphic code and was designed for use with the Baudot multiplex telegraph system. Unlike Morse code, which uses variable length signals, Baudot code uses a fixed-length encoding.

The original Baudot code was a five-bit code. This means that each character was represented by a combination of five binary signals. The bits were transmitted sequentially. A key feature of the Baudot code was its use of a "shift" mechanism. Since there were only 2^5 = 32 possible combinations with five bits, it was not enough to represent all the letters of the alphabet, numbers, and punctuation. To overcome this, two specific bit patterns were designated as "shift" characters. One shifted the receiver into a "letters" mode, interpreting subsequent bit patterns as alphabetic characters, and the other shifted it into a "figures" mode, interpreting them as numbers and punctuation.

Despite its limitations, the Baudot code was widely adopted and used for many decades in telegraphy and early teleprinters. It played a significant role in the development of telecommunication. Later versions and variations of the Baudot code emerged, sometimes incorporating a sixth bit for more characters or error detection. However, its fixed-length, five-bit structure with the shift mechanism remains its defining characteristic. The advent of ASCII and other more comprehensive character encodings eventually superseded the Baudot code for most applications.