Dadita was an ancient Mandalorian method of communication. It was structured around a sequence of tones, both long and short, that when combined, could represent words or numerical values.
Dadita could be conveyed through a variety of means. Examples include physically tapping the code onto metal, using a blinking light, or even transmitting the tones by embedding them within static bursts.
Due to its low-tech nature, Dadita was often seen as outdated, and its existence, let alone its translation, was known by very few outside of Mandalorian society.
Several Mandalorian members of the Cuy'val Dar—the one hundred sergeants who trained the clone commando units of the Grand Army of the Republic—were proficient in Dadita. They passed this knowledge of the ancient code to their trainees.
In 19 BBY, of the galactic standard year, Kal Skirata, a former Cuy'val Dar sergeant and experienced Mandalorian soldier, was forced into hiding on the planet Coruscant. This was because the office of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had declared him a threat to the Galactic Republic.
To secretly contact his clan, Skirata used his helmet's comlink to transmit Dadita code, concealing it within static.
A few weeks after the Republic's collapse and the subsequent rise of the Galactic Empire, Jaller Obrim, Skirata's close friend and a student of Dadita, used the code to send Skirata information about his adopted sons while Skirata was on Mandalore.
Star Wars canon first introduced Dadita in Karen Traviss's Republic Commando novel, Order 66, which was released on September 16, 2008. It was referenced again in the sequel to Order 66, titled Imperial Commando: 501st, which was published a year later on October 27, 2009.
Karen Traviss' website featured a Mando'a dictionary that drew a comparison between dadita and Morse code. Samuel Morse developed Morse code, a similar code using long and short tones, in the real world.