Particularly since the emergence of the codex or book format, literature has also been randomly accessible - including through non-linear links in the form of indexes, cross-references, tables of contents and so on. When computing machines came to be appreciated as more generalised Turing machines, or 'programmatons' (as they should, more properly, be known), our traditions of writing were surprisingly well-adapted. This is not to say that alphabetic transcription is essentially the same as binary representation. However, alphabetic writing already had digital characteristics (as I've said) and, more importantly for the development from 'computing' - calculating projectile and missile trajectories - to net art, the alphabet allowed relatively easy encoding of language-as-text, because of the relatively small number of transcription elements or letters.