Prelude: Computing from Ancient Times to the Modern Era - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 19

communications during World War II, including the famous Native American
“code talkers” who spoke in a code based on Navajo, Choctaw, and other Native
American languages.
Awareness of the need to communicate is ancient knowledge. There is a curious
passage in a Buddhist sutra dating from about the third century BC , in which the
Buddha discussed how his teachings might be transmitted. He mentions casually
that, on earth, teachings are transmitted with words, but on other worlds, teachings
are transmitted by lights, by scents, or by other nonverbal means.
Storing Information
Table 1.4 lists how information has been stored and accessed. As all scholars and
researchers know, once the volume of information exceeds a few topics or a few
dozen written documents, there is an urgent need for some kind of taxonomy or
catalog scheme to ensure that information can be found again when it is needed.
Table 1.4 Evolution of Information Storage and Access