HACKER Q&A
📣 polygot

Thinking about making a tutorial to create a QR code without a computer


I've been thinking about making a tutorial to make a QR code from scratch using graph paper, a pencil (or pen), and a (presumably) big paper booklet on how to encode ASCII characters, choosing the encoding type, Reed–Solomon error correction, etc. with no computer needed. I vaguely recall seeing something posted on HN about this at some point but I can't find it. I can't seem to find any blog posts on it either; I am very interested in reading any posts about it.

After a bit of research there's a website which shows what steps are required to make a QR code but are a bit light on the details. Wikipedia has some info but is pretty technical. It looks extremely complicated which is why I can't seem to find anything.

The goal would be to make a QR code that has a few characters encoded (like ABC) and could be read by a cellphone's camera.

This would be a significant project and a significant time investment as there's a lot of steps and many months (or maybe years) of reading and research. Would anyone be interested in reading a post about this and if so, what information/sections would be useful? Is this a pointless endeavor? Could this be packaged up into something that could be sold?


  👤 Keppl8R Accepted Answer ✓
I say go for it.

Maybe consider going down the Paper Computer route depending on the audience you are targeting ?

https://www.techagekids.com/2018/04/make-my-first-paper-comp...