Braille embosser in the context of "Printer (computing)"

Braille (/ˈbreɪl/ BRAYL, French: [bʁaj] ) is a tactile writing system used by blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone devices. Braille can be written using a slate and stylus, a braille writer, an electronic braille notetaker or with the use of a computer connected to a braille embosser. For blind readers, braille is an independent writing system, rather than a code of printed orthography.

Braille is named after its creator, Louis Braille, a Frenchman who lost his sight as a result of a childhood accident. In 1824, at the age of fifteen, he developed the braille code based on the French alphabet as an improvement on night writing. He published his system, which subsequently included musical notation, in 1829. The second revision, published in 1837, was the first binary form of writing developed in the modern era.

A braille translator is a software program that translates electronic text (such as an MS-Word file) into braille and sends it to a braille peripheral, such as a braille embosser (which produces a hard copy of the newly created braille). Typically, each language needs its own braille translator. Despite the use of the word translator, there is no language translation. Even in the simplest situation, such as Dutch braille, has complex rules for capitalization, emphasis, punctuation, typographic symbols, and page formatting.