https://www.rohitjha.dev/tags/information-theory/Recent content in Information Theory on Rohit JhaHugoen-US© Rohit Jha. Articles licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless noted.Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:53:18 +0530https://www.rohitjha.dev/blog/morse-code/Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:38:54 +0000https://www.rohitjha.dev/blog/morse-code/<p>According to Wikipedia, Morse code is a method of transmitting text information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener. It was developed in 1844 and is credited to Samuel F.B. Morse. As a child, the Morse code had caught my attention and I couldn’t stop but learning it.</p> <p>The essentials of Morse code can be summarized easily. The code consists of only two symbols, a dot ‘.’ and a dash ‘-‘. A combination of these symbols results in a rudimentary representation of the Latin alphabets and decimal numbers. Each character is represented by a unique sequence of dots and dashes, which are also referred to as ‘dit’ and ‘dah’. The duration of a dash is 3 times that of a dot. Additionally, a gap equivalent to the duration of transmission of a dot is put between each symbol of the code. This duration is called one unit. Two letters are separated by a gap of 3 units and two words are separated by a gap of 7 units. The rate of transmission is measured in terms of words per minute (wpm) or characters per minute(cpm).</p>