OCR
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is a technology that converts different types of documents, such as scanned paper documents, PDF files, or images captured by a digital camera, into editable and searchable data. It works by analyzing the shapes and patterns of characters in an image and translating them into machine-encoded text. This enables automated data extraction from physical or digital documents, reducing manual entry and improving efficiency.
Developers should learn OCR when building applications that require text extraction from images, scanned documents, or PDFs, such as document management systems, automated form processing, or accessibility tools for visually impaired users. It is essential for digitizing paper records, enabling search functionality in image-based content, and integrating with machine learning pipelines for natural language processing tasks.