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.