An early use of the term appears to be by George Perrault, a character in the science fiction book ''Friday''<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=l0SKr54JrpgC&q=idiot-code&dq=idiot-code&ei=T8GaR4OwHoOotgPdlKScCg&pgis=1 ''Friday''] (1982) by [[Robert Heinlein]]: page 163. "It's an idiot code, Friday, and an idiot code can never be broken if the user has the good sense not to go too often to the well."</ref> by [[Robert Heinlein]]:
{{quote|It's an idiot code, Friday, and an idiot code can never be broken if the user has the good sense not to go too often to the well.}}
::The simplest sort [of code] and thereby impossible to break. The first ad told the person or persons concerned to carry out number seven or expect number seven or it said something about something designated as seven. This one says the same with respect to code item number ten. But the meaning of the numbers cannot be deduced through statistical analysis because the code can be changed long before a useful statistical universe can be reached. It's an idiot code... and an idiot code can never be broken if the user has the good sense not to go too often to the well.<ref>The Web: [http://www.asherblack.com/quotations.html Quotations] - Asher Black</ref>
