Answer here in this infographic
http://www.howtogeek.com/128439/60-years-of-barcodes-infographic/
@Hazelnut: Your avatar is a bit "sheepish". I loved the old one more. Meeeeehhhhhhh ........
@Willy2 - bugger off , that's a great avatar, i grew up with Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit.
Nick Park is a genius.
As with almost all English comedy - legendary !!!
mind you Winapp2.ini has now got a scary one.
(sorry - no more OT)
Was out today in a 7-11 and my friend bought one of the reusable coffee cups.
The barcode was shaped like a coffee cup.