braille-encode
v2.0.1
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Represent binary data as Braille
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braille-encode
Convert binary data to Braille and back. The idea is that the Braille text visually resembles the original binary. For example, the binary sequence 0b11110001 0b10100101 becomes "⣇⢕". Each column represents each nybble, with the most significant bit at the top.
⠀⢀⠠⢠⠐⢐⠰⢰⠈⢈⠨⢨⠘⢘⠸⢸ ⡀⣀⡠⣠⡐⣐⡰⣰⡈⣈⡨⣨⡘⣘⡸⣸ ⠄⢄⠤⢤⠔⢔⠴⢴⠌⢌⠬⢬⠜⢜⠼⢼ ⡄⣄⡤⣤⡔⣔⡴⣴⡌⣌⡬⣬⡜⣜⡼⣼ ⠂⢂⠢⢢⠒⢒⠲⢲⠊⢊⠪⢪⠚⢚⠺⢺ ⡂⣂⡢⣢⡒⣒⡲⣲⡊⣊⡪⣪⡚⣚⡺⣺ ⠆⢆⠦⢦⠖⢖⠶⢶⠎⢎⠮⢮⠞⢞⠾⢾ ⡆⣆⡦⣦⡖⣖⡶⣶⡎⣎⡮⣮⡞⣞⡾⣾ ⠁⢁⠡⢡⠑⢑⠱⢱⠉⢉⠩⢩⠙⢙⠹⢹ ⡁⣁⡡⣡⡑⣑⡱⣱⡉⣉⡩⣩⡙⣙⡹⣹ ⠅⢅⠥⢥⠕⢕⠵⢵⠍⢍⠭⢭⠝⢝⠽⢽ ⡅⣅⡥⣥⡕⣕⡵⣵⡍⣍⡭⣭⡝⣝⡽⣽ ⠃⢃⠣⢣⠓⢓⠳⢳⠋⢋⠫⢫⠛⢛⠻⢻ ⡃⣃⡣⣣⡓⣓⡳⣳⡋⣋⡫⣫⡛⣛⡻⣻ ⠇⢇⠧⢧⠗⢗⠷⢷⠏⢏⠯⢯⠟⢟⠿⢿ ⡇⣇⡧⣧⡗⣗⡷⣷⡏⣏⡯⣯⡟⣟⡿⣿
This is a hijacking/repurposing of Braille in the same way that Base64 repurposes alphanumeric ASCII — it is most likely of no use to Braille users. Or to anybody, for that matter. For an actual Braille module, try braille
.
Installation
npm install braille-encode
Usage
import { encode, decode } from 'braille-encode'
const uint8Array = Uint8Array.from([
0xd4, 0x1d, 0x8c, 0xd9, 0x8f, 0x00, 0xb2, 0x04,
0xe9, 0x80, 0x09, 0x98, 0xec, 0xf8, 0xf1, 0x1f
])
const str = encode(uint8Array)
console.log(str) // "⡓⣘⠙⣋⢹⠀⡥⠐⢏⠁⢈⡉⠟⡏⠢⡾"
const uint8Array2 = decode(str)
console.log(uint8Array2) // same as `uint8Array`
Efficiency
Given 1MB of input, braille-encode
returns 3.00MB of UTF-8, 2.00MB of UTF-16 or 4.00MB of UTF-32.
Compare Base64, which returns 1.33MB of UTF-8, 2.67MB of UTF-16 or 5.33MB of UTF-32.
Notes on dot numbering and significance
I numbered the eight Braille dots as follows:
8 4
7 3
6 2
5 1
Each dot, if filled, has the following significance:
128 8
64 4
32 2
16 1
Note that this is different from how Braille conventionally numbers the dots. Braille has:
1 4
2 5
3 6
7 8
Which would suggest that the significance of each dot is:
1 8
2 16
4 32
64 128
For example, the byte 0b11110000 would be represented as "⣰". However, this would be relatively difficult to understand. Since the Unicode chart uses this ordering, this means encoding/decoding isn't a matter of simply taking the hex and adding/subtracting 0x2800.