I agree. Many comments point out analogies to reading code, alphabets, etc. Surely, this is just how it feels to grasp any written representation of something s

I agree. Many comments point out analogies to reading code, alphabets, etc. Surely, this is just how it feels to grasp any written representation of something sufficiently complicated. I'm almost more interested in an example of gradually evolved notation being tossed completely when a simpler modern replacement actually is better. Maybe Hangul?