1) A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data relating to an object that consists of varying widths and spacing of parallel lines.
2) There are two main types of barcodes - one dimensional or linear barcodes, and two dimensional barcodes. Common one dimensional barcodes include UPC, EAN, Code 39 etc.
3) Barcodes are scanned by readers that emit a light source like a laser and detect the reflected light to generate a waveform that is decoded into data about the item.