Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes or dits and dahs. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, an inventor of the telegraph.
International Morse Code, also known as Continental Morse Code, encodes the 26 English letters A to Z, some non-English letters, the Arabic numerals and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals (prosigns). There is no distinction between upper and lower case letters.
Morse code can be transmitted in a number of ways: as electrical pulses along a telegraph wire, as an audio tone, a radio signal with short and long tones, or as a mechanical, audible, or visual signal e.g. a flashing light or even a car horn. Some mine rescues have used pulling on a rope, a short pull for a dot and a long pull for a dash.
Morse code is transmitted using just two states - on and off. Historians have called it the first digital code. Morse code may be represented as a binary code, and that is what telegraph operators do when transmitting messages. A Morse code sequence may be made from a combination of:
* short mark, dot or "dit" (.): 1
* longer mark, dash or "dah" (-): 111
* intra-character gap (between the dots and dashes within a character): 0
* short gap (between letters): 000
* medium gap (between words): 0000000