AN EVALUATION OF
TEXT PROCESSING SYSTEMS
by
DAVID DANIEL URBANI
B.S. Drexel University
(1969)
Carnegie Mellon University
(1971)
M.S.
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF
SCIENCE
at the
MASSACHUSETTS
INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
June, 1973
Signature of Author..
Alfred
Certified by.
P.
Sloan School o
. ..........
Management,
..
May 11,
1973
.............
a'.
Thesis Supervisor
.
. .
.
Accepted by......
Chairman, Department 1iCVmittee on Graduate Students
J1UN 28 1973 )
"I n an e
An Evaluation of Text Processing Systems
David Urbani
Submitted to the Alfred P.Sloan
11, 1973 in partial fulfillment
degree of Master of Science.
School of Management on May
of the requirements for the
ABSTRACT
used almost
computers have been
Until recently,
exclusively for data processing functions. The payoffs for
automating
accounting
procedures
and
scientific
calculational
procedures was large enough to justify the
relatively expensive early computer systems.
However,
as
economies of scale and new technology lower the effective
cost of
computer systems,
new and
more imaginative
applications are being developed. Text processing is one of
these applications, and it is to this subject that this
thesis is directed.
computer
is the
application of
Text processing
technology to the production of textual information. There
is a wide range of systems and capabilities available today
which can
be divided
into three
groups:
automatic
typewriters,
mini-computer
supported
terminals,
and
multi-purpose computer supported terminals. Several systems
of each type were evaluated and compared. Also, several
common, and some not so common, uses of text processing were
explored.
Since each system has its own advantages and
disadvantages, the matching of application requirements to
system capabilities is the best method of system selection.
To determine the productivity increase made possible by
the
text processing systems, three sources were evaluated:
and a
production of this thesis, various industry reports,
test conducted on ten subjects. The productivity increase
realized all cases were significant, and ranged from 50 to
1000 per cent.
overall, text processing has been shown to be a viable
the
and cost effective method of producing documents in
business environment.
Thesis Supervisor:
Title:
Stuart A. Madnick
Assistant Professor of Management
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude, first
of all, to
my thesis supervisor, Professor Stuart A. Madnick, who gave
me much of his time and many sources of information,
especially in the early stages of this thesis.
I would also like to thank all of the individuals who
provided me with much of the information contained in this
Red
Dan Diamond at Index Systems,
particularly:
thesis,
Chellis at Camp, Dresser & Mckee, Jim Jackson at Engineering
IBM,
Cambridge
Ed Mosher at
Computers International,
Nat
Scientific Center, Don Nordbeck at Stone & Webster,
and Andries
Rochester at IBM, Cambridge Scientific Center,
van Dam and associates at Brown University.
I would also like to thank all of those people who
volunteered 45 minutes of their time to participate in the
test.
Lastly, I would like to thank Miss Ann Radinovic for
her help in reading and keying, correcting, and editing this
thesis with the TSO-NSCRIPT system.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Chapter
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
1.
INTRODUCTION
2.
TEXT PROCESSING SYSTEMS
2.1 Automatic Typewriters
MT/ST
2.1.1
2.1.2 Redactor
Wang 1200
2.1.3
2.2 Minicomputers
Documate
2.2.1
2.3 Multipurpose Computers
ATS
2.3.1
2.3.2 SPECS
2.3.3 SCRIPT
FRESS
2.3.4
2.4 Comparison
3.
APPLICATIONS OF TEXT PROCESSING
3.1 Uses
Correspondence
3.1.1
3.1.2
Contracts
3. 1.3
Reports
3.1.4
Listings
3.1.5
Directories
3.1.6
Proposals
3.1.7
Manuals
3. 1.8
Specifications
Publications
3.1.9
3.1.10 other uses
3.2 Users
3.2. 1 Stone & Webster
Camp, Dresser & Mckee
3.2.2
IBM, Cambridge Scientific Center
3.2.3
4.
INTEGRATED TEXT PROCESSING SYSTEMS
4.1 Examples of Int. Text Processing Syatems
4.2 Uses for Int. Text Processing Systems
16
16
17
19
21
22
23
28
29
31
35
37
39
5
Page
Chapter
84
84
87
89
90
92
93
97
5.
PRODUCTIVITY INCREASE
5.1 Thesis Production
5.2 Industry Reports
5.3 Experiment
5.3.1 The System
5.3.2 Subjects
5.3.3 The Test
5.3.4 The Results
6.
CONCLUSIONS
106
BIBLIOGRAPHY
111
APPENDIX 1 - AUTOMATIC TYPEWRITERS
113
APPENDIX 2 -
116
MINICOMPUTERS
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table
OF THE SYSTEMS
41
2.1
COMPARISON
2.2
COMPARISON OF THE SYSTEM'S EDITING FEATURES
42
2.3
COMPARISON OF THE SYSTEM'S FORMATTING FEATURES
42
3.1
APPLICATIONS
5.1
DESCRIPTION
5.2
RESULTS
INPUT
REQUIREMENTS
OF SUBJECTS
44
94
OF TIMED TEST FOR TYPING AND TERMINAL
98
SUMMARY OF TIMED TEST
5.3
STATISTICAL
5.4
RESULTS OF EDITING
5.5
STATISTICAL
SUMMARY
TEST
OF EDITING TEST
98
102
102
7
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure
2.1
SAMPLE TERMINAL SESSION
15
2.1
SCHEMATIC OF COMPUTER BASED TEST PROCESSING
SYSTEM
24
TWO METHODS OF ORIGINATING
STONE & WEBSTER
62
3.1
A DOCUMENT
AT
3.2
PRODUCTION OF FINAL COPY AT STONE & WEBSTER
63
4.1
MODULARITY IN AN INTEGRATED TEXT PROCESSING
SYSTEM
75
HYPERTEXT DISPLAYED ON
79
4.2
A CRT
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
describing the
is a term collectively
Text processing
hardware and software systems used to aid in the handling of
Word
information.
textual
these activities,
some of
describe
is
processing
used
also
usually is
but,
to
more
The Word Processing Institute defines word
narrow in scope.
processing as "the application of modern computer technology
systems
and
communications (12)."
million
industry and
the driving
One of
reducing these
costs.
costs by:
such that
a rate
it
(5).
1980
text
used of
the increased
forces to
administrative costs are one of
processing is the fact that
the fastest rising
at
and $8 billion by
$2 billion by 1975
should top
is currently an $800
Text processing
is growing
typewriter
to
techniques
management
help in
Text processing systems
1)
enabling typists to
work more
productively, 2) enabling professionals to be more efficient
in creating
that
the documents, and
no bulky
reducing
hard copy
administrative
need
costs,
3) simplifying
In addition
be filed.
there
are
advantages in using text processing systems.
typing,
cycles of writing,
but with text
processing systems the document
is
Only the updates need
many
to
other
Normal editing
and proofreading,
involves many
updated.
storage, in
must only be
to be proofread since there
no possibility of an error occurring in other portions of
9
with retyping.
the document as there is
the ease of corrections, and it
to be better written due to
tends
be better
to
The document tends
for
looking
reason.
the same
advantages of text processing will
More
be discussed in chapters
3 and 4.
these systems currently is
The largest disadvantage of
the relatively high cost.
However,
of
the
the
components
of
systems
there are more users
should stop.
The
of large
computer systems
i-nception (Grosch's law),
and
opposite end of the
these costs
going down,
come down.
reason why
terminals, especially
are also coming down.
have shown
"power" of
with the
relationship
on the
there is no
cost of
CRT (cathode ray tube) terminals
cost
down.
at a fairly steady rate
advances in technology, and
the trend
going
these costs should
Storage costs have been coming down
due to
are
are rather expensive today,
Communication devices and lines
but as
the costs of almost all
the
The
root
a square
system since
their
minicomputers otfer low costs
With
"power" spectrum.
and the
cost of
all of
labor, including
professionals, going up, it is not hard to see that there is
a potential for a large market in text processing.
Functionally, a
into three
text processing system may
main categories: input,
input phase is
edit, and
concerned with transforming a
the conceptualizations of an author
the particular system.
be divided
output.
The
document from
onto the medium used by
There may be intermediate steps such
10
as a longhand draft, a
pasting previous
dictaphone recording,
documents,
entered by an operator of
end it
is
usually
a typewriter keyboard based input
advantage
One immediate
device.
in the
but
or cutting and
the text
of
processing
system over normal typing is that errors may be corrected as
they
are
spotted in
input
the
phase.
character,"
character
such
preceeding
as
it
an a
which
(see figure
possible to shift into the editing
to correct mistakes which have
is
usually
mistake or by typing a
accomplished by backspacing over the
"kill
This
will
1.1).
delete
It
is
the
also
mode from the input mode
been noticed some time later
after their occurrence.
Once
pasting
a
system is
can
be
ongoing,
accomplished
much
by
of the
the
cutting
system
simply
and
by
transfering documents, or parts of documents, from medium to
medium.
The
predominant media used
cards, magnetic tape (cassettes,
magnetic disks.
be
considered
into a
a
medium
computer.
able to change
of the
and
the pages,
the
character
and enter
input phase
the
does
however.
parts of
editor in
(optical
OCR
Usually
Once the text is stored in
function
cartridges, or reels),
since
can read
involve keying of some sort,
to be
paper tape,
In some systems, typed pages themselves can
recognition) equipment
material
today are
the system, it is desirable
the document.
a text
This
is the
processing system.
editing command can be broken into three categories.
An
First,
11
the location of the desired change must be made known to the
This is commonly done on either a line number basis
system.
or a context basis.
a linear
This
Usually the line number is a measure of
displacement of
method
of
a line
locating
from the
the text
is
top of
awkward
a file.
from
the
standpoint that the most up-to-date previous version must be
referred to when making changes, and the line numbers change
as new text is added.
quite acceptable
lines
are
program,
The
when working
structurally
but are
line number oriented editors are
meaningful,
is
more
between the
it.
natural
The
Sometimes more effort is
is
computer
editors when
no artificial
and the method
string the user wishes
link
of locating
to locate may
usually be overcome very simply
words.
not be
is a character string which
would occur many times in most documents.
from bordering
a
needed with this system since
unique, for instance, "and the"
two
as
the
context method of locating
since there
text to be located
the character
such
in which
inferior to context oriented
applied to other documents.
text
with document
This drawback can
by including a character or
Probably
the best
method
of
locating text is accomplished when a television screen--like
CRT (cathode ray tube) is used
for the terminal.
With this
system, a large block of text is displayed on the screen and
the location of the change
to
it with
an
electronic
is identified by merely pointing
device.
Whatever
the
method,
locating is the first function to be done by an editor.
12
editing
move, or
insert, delete,
text.
the desired
display
type of
substitute,
These include
done.
be
function to
of the
the specification
step is
The second
With
the delete, move, or display functions, no other information
be
must
supplied
other
than
the
locating
information.
However, with the substitute and insert functions, the third
step,
textual input, must also be provided.
accomplished
command
including
by
but separated
from the
in
text
other
the
editing
information by
the
usually referred
separating character,
particular systems'
to as a delimiter.
the new
This is usually
With the use of one of these operations,
the text which is stored in the system is changed.
is
for
responsible
document once
responsible for
the process, and
is the last step in
The output phase
the formatting
in its
it
final
and
form.
arranging the document
form from its input form.
printing
The
of
the
formatter is
hard copy
into its
This is usually accomplished by a
set of formatting commands which can be included in the text
itself or reside in a separate file.
With these commands, a
user may specify the line lengths, margins, centering, etc.,
at any time during the production
them when necessary
of a document, and change
with little extra work.
Better typing
efficiency is realized during the input phase because little
thought has to be given to formatting by the operator.
Once
the
produced by a
format
is
decided,
the
variety of output devices.
document
With
may
be
most of the
13
systems,
the
output
can
typewriter.
be printed
for
desirable
printer
copies.
to
composition
typewriter-like
the mechanical speed
which is
or on
the output
considerably
be printed
to
(usually magnetic
This is
devices.
industry
requiring a high quality product.
on
special perforated
approach
Another
publishing
the
a
output can
The
to provide input
to photo
on
of the systems,
paper for drafts
final
production is
tape)
a line
typewriter.
normal computer
paper
With a few
on
than a
faster
typed
speed is limited by
terminal, but the
of the
can be
or
output
or paper
especially
firms
other
If the output of the text
processing system is for information only, i.e. no hard copy
is required, a
the
CRT can be used for
method, the
neater and
output from
this display.
system is
the
Whatever
likely to
a document typed
more mistake-free than
be
in the
conventional manner.
It is
the purpose of this
different approaches
thesis to:
taken in
(1)
explore the
designing these
systems and
of each, (2) discuss the
provide a framework for comparison
common uses and user applications
(3)
and
discuss some advanced and
(4)
determine
of these systems to date,
future uses of these systems,
the productivity
processing systems.
a comprehensive list
The systems
increase
are not
of all that is
limited by
text
discussed do not represent
available, but rather,
they represent an attempt to cover the range.
applications
due to
the
Likewise, the
ones discussed;
the
imaginative user could probably find dozens more.
FIGURE 1.1
SAMPLE TERMINAL SESSION
READY
edit sample nonum new text
INPUT
(single-space)
.ss
(center)
.ce
INTRODUCTION
(space)
.sp
Although computers have been used to grae@@eat
advantage in mnay areas of the business community
for a number of years, until recintly the field
of text processing has been overlooked. The
method of turning
out textual infrdormation
such as reports, contracts, and manuals, has remained
the same while new techniques were
being applied to accounting, management science,
and engineering applications.
EDIT
up 111
TOP OF DATA SET
verify
down 5
advantage in mnay areas of the business community
change /mna/man/
advantage in many areas of the business community
down
for a number of years, until recintly the field
change /recin/recen/
for a number of years, until recently the field
down 3
out textual information
change /ation/ation,/
out textual information,
save
SAVED
end
READY
15
FIGURE 1.1
(cont.)
The output would be:
READY
nscript sample
LOAD PAPER;
HIT RETURN
INTRODUCTION
Although computers have been used to qreat advantage in
many areas of the business comunity for a number of years,
until recently the field of text processing has been
overlooked.
The method of turning out textual information,
such as reports, contracts, and manuals, has remained the
same while new techniques
were being applied to accounting,
management science, and engineering applications.
CHAPTER
2
TEXT PROCESSING SYSTEMS
approaches and
many different
There are
exhibited in the design of
text processing systems that are
the market today.
available on
philosophies
is a large
There
range of
capabilities and, of course, a large range in price--the two
directly related.
usually being
The systems
(1) stand alone typewriter
be grouped into three categories:
(2) dedicated
terminals,
processing only),
minicomputers
for
(used
text
and (3) software programs implemented on a
multipurpose computer. The latter may
computer or a
can logically
time-shared computer.
refer to a user's own
A discussion
of these
three categories and selected members follows.
2.1 AUTOMATIC TYPEWRITERS
These editing systems are designed as "stand alone" and
thus do not require a centralized computer, although in some
Typically
cases, communications with computers is possible.
the
prices
are
capabilities.
not easily
relatively
For
done, so
any document
that with
Their primary selling point
the more
so
then
routine and/or time
are
the
changes are
instance, extensive editing
fifteen per cent editing changes,
(5).
but
low,
of more
than
retyping may be necessary
is
a method of automating
consuming jobs of
the normal
17
The typing speed of all
office typing load.
the
order of
mechanical
limitation
which
systems
all
characters per
fifteen
of the
are
second,
selectric
based.
systems is on
due to
typewriter,
Appendix
1
the
upon
contains
a
complete listing of most of the automatic typewriters on the
market of which three are discussed below.
2.1.1 MT/ST
The
Magnetic
consists of
Tape Selectric
a single
Typewriter
Selectric typewriter
(1),(9),(19)
connected to
control/memory unit which
can include either a
cartridge,
cartridge,
(MC/ST).
a
dual
tape
or
a
a
single tape
magnetic
card
The purchase price can vary from $3,200 to $11,000
depending on the
options (read only, read
write, number of
cassettes, etc.).
The
editing capability
in
single card
the
or
tape
systems is very limited being restricted to the substitution
of equal length
character strings.
not equal in length, but nearly
the line
With
may be
the dual
available,
string for
but to make a
a smaller
substitution is
so, the relevant portion of
retyped and hence
tape system,
If the
the insertion
a little
is made.
more flexibility
is
substitution of a larger character
one,
the
copied on to the other tape.
to 14.8 cps since the process
entire document
has to
This transfer speed is
be
limited
of transferring text from one
18
the
by
accomplished
but usually
makes retyping
can be
one of them
programmed to
form letter
stopping
manually
operator
this complicated
changes, special
the
procedure
the easier option.
stop at
is
Paragraph sequences can be
typewriter during the printing.
rearranged (moved)
substitution
the
of
location
The
system.
the
typed by
the text is being
another only occurs as
tape to
The system
preselected points
characters, or
to allow
page endings.
It is also possible to store standard paragraphs on one tape
and retrieve
them as required
are made by
Error corrections
to "boiler plate"
backspacing and
a letter.
typing over
mistakes.
Formatting
(but
features
include right
and
not justification)
variable
margin
adjustment
line lengths.
system will drop
unnecessary hyphens when retyping
different
length,
line
but
does
not
add
The
using a
any
new
hyphenations.
per tape and have the
The magnetic cartridges cost $15
capacity for 24,000 characters, or
pages.
for
roughly ten single typed
If the documents are to be saved on these cartridges
this represents
permanent storage,
a relatively
high
cost of $650 per million characters.
to
Communication
telephone
lines
communication
conversion
to
with
can
be
computer
other
a
is
MT/ST's
telephone
accomplished
compatible
data
possible
tape
Computer
set.
either
via
via
through
a
a
Digidata
19
Convertor or directly into the computer via an IBM 2495 tape
reader.
but is
Digidata costs $4,600,
The
not completely
satisfactory in that some trouble can occur if editing codes
are
left on
MT/ST tape.
the
2495 costs
about
quite a bit
it is more reliable, it also
$22,000 and while
With both of these devices the transmission
more expensive.
of text
IBM
The
can only occur from
computer not
the MT/ST to the
vice versa.
In summary the
MT/ST is a very
is a quite cost effective in
rudimentary system but
some applications such as form
letters and short business letters.
2.1.2 Redactor
(12) can be obtained
The Redactor editing typewriters
with single
or dual magnetic
tape cassettes, or
incorporated in the control
dual magnetic cards
single or
unit along
Prices range from $6,700
with the Selectric I/O typewriter.
for the single cassette or single card version to $8,000 and
$8,200
for
the
respectively.
dual
These
cards measure
inches and are made of solid
enough capacity
like the ones
for one page
dual
or
cassette
mylar.
about 3.5
used in most commercially
more single spaced pages.
version
inches by
6
They usually only have
of text.
tape recorders, and usually have
card
The
cassettes look
available cassette
the capacity for twenty or
20
There
are
when
main
a
of
advantages
cards requiring no
First,
cassettes.
recopied
three
of
document
cards
pages
assembled, whereas the whole tape must be.
is
being
Second, training
since the concept ot one
is generally faster
not be
changes need
several
over
page per card
is easier to understand than one cassette for many pages and
possibly fractions of pages.
text
are on
searched
one
Third,
cassette, the
correct
the correct
document
for, but
immediately with cards since they
However, these
cards do not
the cassettes have
the
that the
transfer rate
document
assembly
the card/tape
prevent the typist from
features
automatic
are
much
width
alignment for
is
and
the
tab
the document by
is indicated
variations,
columnar work,
standard
additional feature
MT/ST's
per
is also an
where
wasting keystrokes.
like
is a little
There
feature
One
of copying
700 characters
fetched from one tape to
instruction codes.
end of
capacity that
by the same method
15 cps for the MT/ST.
paragraphs may be
programmed
retrieved
can be filed by document.
to another, but this system
second compared to
automatic
may be
be
(5).
from one card/tape
in that
document must
have the memory
Editing is accomplished
better
if several elements of
but
by a
is
tone to
The formatting
also
include
automatic
decimal
automatic control
for single
and double spacing, and automatic underlining.
The
cassettes
have
a
storage
capacity
of
60,000
21
cost $9.
characters, and
These storage
little more reasonable at $150
cards have
a capacity
line and cost
of $100 per
that a
of 160
be a
The
characters per
This yields
a theoretical cost
million characters it every
line contained 160
characters.
The more
there would
per million characters.
for 64 lines
$1 per card.
costs would
likely situation,
be one page of
more realistic
however, is
typed output per
estimate would
that
card implying
be $200
per million
characters.
There
are,
devices for
present,
at
linking with
no
communications
other systems,
but they
control
will be
available in the future.
The Redactor system offers
costs and
jobs
a few more features
easier.
The
types
of
significantly lower storage
than the MT/ST to
application,
make some
however,
are
basically the same.
2.1.3 Wang 1200
The Wang
System 1200 Cassette Typewriter
is available
in the dual or single cassette version with a communications
oriented package optional.
single
version.
is
cassette model
When
and
available,
Prices start at $7,000
$7,400
for the
the communication
dual
for the
cassette
control device
priced at $2,400.
In
most respects this system is
similar to the Redactor
22
system.
The editing features are about equal and speeds are
system include those of the
The formatting features of this
systems
Redactor
type of cassette.
both systems use the same
the same since
also
but
automatic
include
heading
centering, right margin justification, and page numbering.
One of the strong points of the system is its potential
and a central computer.
to communicate with other terminals
This
still under
feature is
operational it
will allow
manner, documents
of
part
a data
of
base
be typed at the
computer can
the computer).
become
in
the
information in
the
and used
computer
and
is
duplex
cassettes can
stored on
the
when it
a full
and from
documents,
of larger
preparation
communication in
is possible to
mode (transmission
In this
development, but
line printer
console in case
quality is not sufficient.
2.2 MINICOMPUTERS
These
systems are
designed for
who need
users
more
capability than available with automatic typewriters, but do
not have their own computer or one that is suitable for text
Actually, these
processing.
toward
which
the
time
relative advantages
differentiation.
processing
systems
shared
and disadvantages
As with
systems,
form
users
any
of
productivity
market
the same
are
of each
aimed.
provide the
the computer-aided
of
typists
The
is
text
greatly
23
increased when compared to
line
from
advantages
of
the
minis
medium
to
that,
are
and
system resides
chief disadvantage is
in the
users
no
generally,
more readily
control are
Among
another.
the system,
required to operate
experience is
convenience,
one
features
and waiting for text to be
eliminate a lot of repeat typing
transferred
and
high speed
the editing
Second,
printer independently.
input
the
produced by a
the output can be
editing modes;
with
only concerned
is
usually
the terminal
First
for this.
two basic reasons
There are
operator
manual or automatic typewriters.
the
computer
and security,
available since
The
own establishment.
large investment may
the fact that a
be required if the system is purchased, implying that a user
had better
purchasing.
needs the
2.1 is
a schematic
is organized.
Appendix 2
Figure
based system
text
minicomputer
capabilities he
that he
be sure
processing
and
is
a computer
of how
lists many
formatting
of the
systems
available today.
2.2.1 Documate
Documate (3), (4), (24)
is a
system consisting
of from
three to fifteen modified IBM Selectric typewriter terminals
connected either
directly or through
telephone lines
processor which contains the logic and storage devices.
storage is
divided into active
and inactive,
to a
The
and capacity
24
FIGURE
SCHEMATIC
OF COMPUTER
BASED
2.1
TEXT PROCESSING
SYSTEM
25
may be added in increments. Also included in the system is
from $82,000 to $200,000
Prices vary
printing.
and lower
of upper
printer capable
speed line
high
a
case
with third
party leasing and lease-purchasing available.
system
This
has
a
fairly
The editor is basically a line oriented system,
capability.
but it will recognize character
In
editing
comprehensive
addition,
rather
strings that overlap lines.
than dynamically
renumber
the system adds lines as a
changes are made,
lines
as
subset of the
previous line, i.e. the lines following line 52 become 52.1,
Thus, the
52.2, etc., while deleted line numbers disappear.
to the most recent copy
line numbers will always correspond
document for
of the
renumber the
desired.
ease in locating
lines in
move
integer sequence
One function of the line
position where editing
the
available.
pointer
up
text.
or down
With Documate
may be
numbers is
is to occur, and
any
A
command to
given when
to locate the
commands that will
number
of
lines
the editing position can
are
also be
found by specifying context which will uniquely identify the
Ellipses (Now...country) may be
desired location.
lessen the
when specifying
longer character
The searching may be specified to occur in several
strings.
ranges
typing burden
used to
of
the
document:
within
several
or
all
lines
preceeding the current position, within several or all lines
following, between
entire document.
two specified
lines, or
throughout the
26
to
Modifications
moving any
However, when
moving large blocks of
data, it may
This capability
desired location.
be more
imbed the file
the block as a file and
convenient to label
in the
character string.
desired length
changing, and
erasing,
replacing,
include
text
is provided
by
Documate.
columnar work can be
such that
aligned
formatting controls
are
specified to override
text and must be
interspersed in the
justified or
left or right
All
points.
on decimal
and
also possible to set tabs
is
It
conditional page skipping.
footings,
headings,
control,
margins
page
page
justification, the
left, center, or full
numbering, right,
four
are automatic
included
formatting features
The
It is also possible to
any default formatting instructions.
keep the formatting instructions in a separate file which is
when the format is
variable.
to
characters
devices
storage is also
depending
provided by 2315's,
with
capacity, and slightly slower
characters of
characters
characters
cartridges
removable
have
The transfer
million
on
More capacity can be added when it is needed.
requirements.
The offline
from 1.5 million
which range in capacity
10
is provided
in the Documate system
The active storage
by magnetic disks
for cases
printing the document
the text when
merged with
rate of
per
the cartridges to
second
so
that
it
2.5
million
access speeds.
the disk
is
but these
not
is 5,000
terribly
27
inconvenient to transfer
The cost of one cartridge
computer.
per
inactive documents back on
characters
million
this
is
to the
is $155 so that at $62
inexpensive
reasonably
archival storage.
With
so much
available
storage,
fairly extensive file manager system
complete list of files on
there should
be
a
which Documate has.
A
disk and cartridge is maintained,
and it is possible to retrieve, delete, rename, and transfer
media,
of
any file
terminal.
In
cognizance
of a
under an
it
addition,
file
operator's cognizance
is
possible
operator
from one
to
at the
transfer
to another.
It
should be noted that unless an operator supplies the correct
name and
password it
is impossible to
access any
file in
this system.
Output may be typed out on
line
printer
depending
appearance of
240
time.
in the
time.
of
on
the
volume
the document.
The
line printer
lines per
operators
minute
and
background
mode
respect
to the
with
the
desired
operates at
so that
the
processor's
This permits operators to use the system continuously
input and edit mode
and receive output at
the same
If typed quality is needed, it is possible to use one
rate of
still finer
either
in a
have priority
the terminals
slower
terminals or the high speed
which
would
fifteen characters
quality is required
magnetic
print at
tape
or
paper
per
the
considerably
second.
it is possible
tape
input
Also,
if
to provide
to
a
photo
composition system.
2.3 MULTI-PURPOSE COMPUTER SYSTEMS
Many
based
computer
processing
text
systems
are
available for the
users own computer or from
computer service.
The end product is the same but there are
many
advantages and
in-house
output
version
provides
when desired,
greater
security
drawbacks are
more
disadvantages of
to
disks,
receiving
Among
correct printer, paper,
the
transmission
special printers.
coordination with the computer center
and
necessary for
core memory,
and
The
greater control
the large capital requirements
as
of
services.
time shared
units, terminals,
that the
either method.
convenience
in addition
than
equipment such
control
the
a time shared
Special
staff must be made so
and ribbon are
used when
producing text output.
With
a
advantage is
user.
The
stocks,
Hence,
commercial
time
that there are
shared
even photo offset
the user
the
have a variety
be available.
can primarily concentrate on
the input and
With service bureaus no
and each subscriber
computer knowledge is
required,
service benefits from
advances in technology since
to
be
of paper
equipment may
edit phase of document preparation.
has
chief
minimal investments made by the
service bureaus usually
and
service,
implemented
on
one
system.
to the
it
only
Among
the
29
disadvantages are the higher operational costs, and the lack
of convenience,
aided
text
security, etc.
processing
businesses and
is
This approach
especially
firms using
to computer
suited
text processing
to
smaller
for the
first
time.
Four of
these multipurpose computer based
systems are
discussed below.
2.3.1 ATS
Administrative
is a
Terminal System
program provided as a
360 or 370
ATS will
standard package by IBM
series computers.
run in a
(1),(2),(16),(18),(19)
Written to
on the
operate under OS,
multiprogram environment.
Typically it
resides in 64K of memory and uses about five per cent of the
system CPU time even with many
were
to
implement this
depend
Usually
on
the
the
his computer
extra
memory, the
of the
chains for
provides
be necessary
system
file
to
a user
he
be
load on
must
extra
the
printers, and
all of which
implemented.
management
to provide
If
2741's),
addition to the CPU time,
scope
system
programming may
on
and lower case
upper
programming time in
users.
core
storage, extra
printer(s),
system
of the terminals (usually
consider the cost
disk
terminals in use.
but
control over
some
the
Security and accounting data are provided for by the
use of account names, account numbers, and operator numbers.
30
primitive but
is rather
systems go, ATS's
As editing
considering that it was one of the original systems, this is
surprising.
not too
line
number, and
editing proceeds.
hard
consistantly
command
the line
from
locate the
is a
up
to be
Lines may
be easily
forms.
and deletions of
one or more lines is
to
editing
insertions
deletions and
being degenerate
able
The basic
desired line.
substitution, with
as
work from the previous
bottom
the
strictly by
done
change dynamically
numbers
Usually operators
and edit
copy
text is
Location of
moved around
relatively easy, but
to insert new lines in the middle of the document, the lines
must be typed
at the end of
the document and moved
to the
desired location.
Text may be
mode in
the ATS
input in the "formatted"
or "unformatted"
Typing
the unformatted
system.
input in
mode results in output exactly as it is typed in.
other nonconcatenated text.
for tables or
is used
This mode
Use of
the formatted mode treats the text as one continuous stream,
which
will be
printout.
and
left
and right
The formatting commands are
include line
numbering and a
centering,
using this
right margin of
headings
printing.
feature in
at
the time
of
stored with the text
and footings,
stop output command where
typed in at the time of
when
justified
page
variables may be
Care should be exercised
the formatted
mode since
the line may not be justified
is larger than the space provided for it.
the
if the input
31
Output may be typed out at the terminal or printed on a
high speed
the document.
medium such
which can
the desired
printer depending on
It can also
be transmitted to another output
as paper tape,
punched card, or
be used as input
magnetic tape
to other systems such
a
cost
of
roughly
$1
magnetic
tape
can
also be
used
At
composition.
characters,
appearance of
as photo
per
as
million
a
very
inexpensive archival storage medium.
2.3.2 SPECS
Specification writing was one of the early natural uses
few
engineering
program
and
architechtural firms
DATA TEXT.
satisfactory,
was implemented
text processing, and
of computerized
so a
This was
group
adequate,
named
using
the
but not
by a
IBM
entirely
Automated Procedures
for
Engineering Consultants, APEC, engaged a consulting company,
Engineering Computer International Inc., to create a program
especially
member
for specification
firms
specified
include
program.
of APEC
to be
the
IBM
to run
able
the logical
cost
In
of
Since
most of
the
1130's, this
program
was
on this
structure of
SPECS(6),(13),(17)
purpose program.
fee,
had
writing.
was
a
system
specification in
the
resulting
addition to the $1000
the
program
and was
ranges
to
the
special
APEC membership
from
$1000
for
implementation on an 1130 to $3000 for a IBM system/360 with
OS.
At extra
and
lower
obtained with upper
cost, the program may be
case printing
a 16K
but
capability,
core
is
required on the 1130 as opposed to the standard 8K.
on the system since
There are many limitations imposed
it
was
primarily designed
drawback is
mode
the tact that the
which does
However, many
not allow
of the
The
largest
program executes in
a batch
for
for
very interactive
features included
the mechanical
editing is
done on
preparation
a context
of
is the
structure, as
the location identifier.
change, delete,
lowest element
and insert
system are
the document.
uses the
basis and
number, which
are
in the
editing.
writers task, rather than
aimed at easing the specification
aiding
8K 1130.
an
but
The
article
in the
specification
The
basic commands
any character
string
referenced must be completely typed out.
A
specification is
basically an
organized series
articles, usually arranged in outline form.
typical structure may appear like:
article no.
1
level
1
2
3
2
3
2. text
4
3
a) heading
text
B) heading
1. text
II heading
5
4
6
7
8
2
3
1
I
heading
text
A) heading
1. text
of
For instance, a
33
A block of text would be any logically connected subset
of articles such as everything under the A) heading or A) 2.
category.
Some of
or exclusion of special
specification writers are inclusion
notes,
edition changes, and relational
are of
The
phrase
text,
but
copy.
final
the
through
the
on
the
global
to
compared
changes
global
permit
options
when
production of
eliminated
are automatically
and
specifications,
The special notes
options.
writer during
to the
great use
of
blocks, dating
multiple choice
phrase options,
to
special interest
features of
the editing
change
capability in other text editors, suffers from the fact that
all candidates for
selection
one
of
text.
By choosing
a
from
automatically specify
option,
an
the
provides for
options
several
of
which will
specification
blocks
choice
The multiple
conception.
specified during
global changes must be
the writer
master
additional
several
links
blocks of information such that the inclusion (exclusion) of
one
block from
(exclusion)
these
the master
of other
editing
block(s).
features
cause the
file will
depend on
the
of
the benefits
of
Most
inclusion
preparation
of
a
comprehensive master specification.
The master
specification is the
all project masters will be derived.
include the
and
data base
For instance, it would
specifications for copper wire,
steel wire
among other
things.
from which
If
aluminum wire,
copper wire
were
34
then all reference to
selected exclusively for one project,
the
copper
the author chooses
types would not appear it
the other two
options
wire
for
specification
In
only.
finishing
another
painting.
requirements for staining and
include
Upon choosing one,
would be nonsensical
be eliminated since it
the other will
might
woodwork
the
case,
to specify both.
The
formatting
capabilities
include
contained in the standard computer
is
unique
in that
the
formatting
changing article
in
a
Also unique is the automatic
per cent of
changes which
those
commands reside
structure generation which is available.
approximately 85
of
based systems, but SPECS
formatting
different file than the text.
most
It was noted that
changes to master
were usually
15.211 to 15.21a
of
files were
the variety
or XV.211.
of
SPECS is
So
organized in four generalized levels which are automatically
insertions or deletions occur
renumbered when
the specified scheme in
The original
the formatting file.
document is
written such
level of the article need be identified.
the method of labeling these levels is
and suffixes.
the
prefix
incremented
described in
possible
For instance,
15.
or
according to
the
XV.,
by integers
level
or
a similar manner
when specifying
that only
In the format file
specified by prefixes
1 might be identified
suffix
letters.
")"
or
by
and
".",
Each level
so that complete
the format.
the
can
be
freedom is
These features
are
35
included because it
to be
dealing with
is not unusual for
a dozen
an engineering firm
different architects,
or more
each of whom has different format standards.
be considered a general
While the SPECS program cannot
possible
for
smaller
processing,
firms
writing, one
specification
some value.
program it is of
text processing
and
yet
to have
of
have
valuable
largest uses
the
the
a
It
convenience
of
makes it
aid
of
in
text
in-house
processing on a modest computer budget.
2.3.3 SCRIPT
SCRIPT(14),(15)
is another
Like ATS, it
environment, but
has more
more CPU time.
purchase
in a multiprogram
also operates
Since it
it possesses many improvements.
slightly more core
features, it uses
and perhaps
This program is available through
basis and
also
is used
by
IBM,
360 with CP/CMS and
Cambridge Scientific Center, for system
370 with VM.
produced by
program
a
few time
IBM on a
sharing
service bureaus in various forms.
SCRIPT
can be
used
with a
variety
of editors,
but
usually it is CMS EDIT, which is basically a context editor.
The text which is to be changed may be located by specifying
a unique
character string or
string rather than a line
not recognize a
a column
number.
dependent character
However, the system does
character string that happens
to reside on
36
different lines.
two
This implies
considered a structural element of
pointer
following
the
provision
to move
but this
insert may
groups of lines
character strings, lines, or
be applied to
position.
There
from one
location
text
task can
present
imaginary
the
by
as change, delete, and
pointer, operations such
another
following the
located
place is
the
Once
position.
still
Also the system
a file.
that occurs
for text
only searches
line is
that a
no
is
be accomplished
in
explicit
to
a file
by creating
a
temporary file and copying it in the desired location.
The
formatting
justification,
page
include
features
numbering,
right
headings,
footing,
margin controls, tab setting and line controls.
is
a
provision
frequently
for
including
controls are included in
four
Also, there
instructions
controls.
of format
used sets
macro
margin
The
the text as it is keyed
for
formatting
in but do
not appear on the output.
The output may be printed on
or at the terminal as with
printer
may be
rough draft
other systems.
translated into
printer efficiency is
copies.
a high speed line printer
desired.
all
This
uppercase if
greater
mode would be used for
Output compatible with
media is also possible.
Output on a line
other printing
2.3.4 FRESS
and contains a number
program developed at Brown University
of information
the retrieval
features for
of advanced
and formatting.
well as the usual editing
from earlier work on Hypertext
available
commericially
a
is
FRESS(19),(20),(21)
as
It was developed
Editing System(19) which was
an experimental system for studying text handling techniques
as well as
studying hypertext as a new
is available
It
360.
University
may
or
an IBM system
core memory under CP/CMS on
requires 256K of
be
of the system
from Brown
sharing basis
on a time
the
on
installed
customer's
own
The features
The price is subject to negotiation.
machine.
The system
medium.
working in an
are more useful for the author
interactive mode than for the secretary producing documents.
A
system
basic
more
retrieval
extensive
the
without
characteristics, STRESS, will soon be available.
in FRESS
editor
The
more features
contains
is
than the
editor
but
by SCRIPT.
The
a context
also
one used
FRESS editor has the capability for the use of ellipses(...)
in specifying
the desired
makes the
not only
mistakes since the
character string.
typing easier but
Unlike
SCRIPT,
lines may
a
eliminates a
character string for which
searches must be typed in exactly as it
which is
by FRESS.
This is
lot of
the computer
appears in
character string
be recognized
This feature
the file.
typed on
two
because FRESS
38
considers a line to be only a subsection of a greater stream
of text,
Also, the
system can search
precedes the
is the
fact that
each line
Another
is "saved"
operation.
return or
With
other
operating procedure is to file a
fifteen minutes to protect against
a time.
text that
convenient feature
when the
A revert command is also
accidental carriage
previous
characters at
backwards to locate
current position.
return is used.
any
of 500
usually consisting
carriage
provided to undo
faulty
editing on
systems
the
the
standard
block of text every ten or
losing everything it the
computer goes down during input.
An
advanced
ability to
feature
direct access a
"labels", which are
of contents.
Also, the
returned by
assigned to
features have
the text by
the
use of
like a table
possible, and
keyword, appropriate segments of
A
given keyword
the document, and
be assigned to a given place.
"memories" such that after
integrated
is
text by the
the document.
text
may be
more than
All of these
traveling through
these methods, it is possible
an
FRESS
keywords is
the system.
to the original place in
as
use of
several places in
one keyword may
FRESS
portion of
in
input by the user and act
upon referencing a certain
text are
incorporated
to easily return
These features rank
processor
which
will
be
discussed in Chapter 4.
The
much the
formatting features
same as SCRIPT.
and
output capabilities
However, FRESS also
are
supports an
~m
-
39
IBM
2260
CRT
convenient
which
editing
can
be
since a
used
large
for
faster
and
more
block
of text
can
That
depends
on
be
displayed at one time.
2.4 COMPARISON
Which
system
the
is
best?
application for which it is to
of the most
that probably is
system
of
and
of
in each
judgement
The
cost effective
of
First
all,
the broad
trouble with
those requirements.
they meet
must
characteristics.
be
made
For
categories;
that is
for
and
implicit value
non-readily
who
be to rank
input, edit,
that an
instance,
the
known, and then
compare all of the systems would
One attempt to
output.
not the most
application.
compared on how
the systems
to generate form
application have to be
requirements of the
them
Clearly FRESS, one
powerful systems, may be used
letters, but
match
be used.
the
can
quantifiable
say
that
a
formatting system that provides for footnotes, but, does not
have the capability to allow either Roman or Arabic numerals
for page
worse than a
numbering, is better or
provides the
converse.
This decision
system that
is best made
by the
user who knows his requirements more explicitly.
Another method of comparison would
(+) to a system in each category
zero (0)
where it
is
in
about average,
be to assign a plus
which it is superior, a
a minus (-)
where it is
40
some
involves
also
system
this
While
nonexistent.
is
feature
the
where
(NA)
available
not
or
inferior,
subjectivity, the segregation into three ranks is easier and
less
a
arbitrary than
ranking scheme,
strict
would
and
provide about as much information.
The next step is to provide a framework for comparison,
Rather
useful and comprehensible.
which is both
than have
one table with every feature on one margin, and every system
The
levels.
deals
comparison
level of
first
on two
approach the problem
it was decided to
on another,
with
the
overall system characteristics which seem important, and the
comparison of overall
Table 2.1 is the
in greater detail.
permanent storage,
includes working storage,
features, and
modularity, which is a
and
formatting,
editing,
formatting systems
with the editing and
second level deals
2.2 is a comparison
compatibility with other devices. Table
is comparison of
capabilities and Table 2.3
of the editing
measure of
the formatting capabilities.
accomplishes is to provide a
with
the
table
of
for
a
given
What
question
still
comparison
this
requirements,
determine which would be
Such
application.
applications requirements,
question,
framework, which, when coupled
applications
systematic evaluation to
system
answer the
since this
application.
the
on
depends
best?,"
the
system is
"Which
does not
comparison still
This
Table 3.1,
is
a
allows
a
the best
table
of
given in Chapter 3.
TA BLE 2.1
COMPARISON OF THE SYSTEMS
WORK
STORAGE
SYSTEM
PERM'T
STORAGE
FORMATTING
MTST
REDACTOR
WANG
DOCUMATE
ATS
SPECS
SCRIPT
FRESS
(Note
that
EDITING
MODULARITY
0
0
+
+
the
interchanged -from
rows
those
and
in
columns
Tables
in
2.2
Table
and
2.1
2.3
consistant with Table 3.1 to aid in this evaluation.)
to
are
be
42
TABLE
2.2
COMPARISON OF THE SYSTEM'S
FUNCTION
EDITING FEATURES
MTST REDAC WANG DOCUMATE ATS SPECS SCRIPT FRESS
LOCATE-LINE
-CONTEXT
MOVE
INSERT
DELETE
CHANGE
COPY
FILE MANIP'N
NA
0
0
0
0
NA
+
0
0
0
TABLE
o
NA
-
0
0
-
+
0
+
0
+
+
0
+
0
0
0
0
-
+
0
0
+
0
2.3
COMPARISON OF THE SYSTEM'S FORMATTING FEATURES
FUNCTION
LINE CONTROL
"
MARGIN
HEADINGS
FOOTINGS
STRUCTURE
FOOTNOTES
COLUMNS
FIGURES
JUSTIFICATION
NUMBERING
TABLE OF CONT
MTST REDAC WANG DOCUMATE ATS SPECS SCRIPT
0
NA
NA
NA
NA
0
NA
NA
NA
NA
+
+
+
+
0
0
+
+
+
NA
-
+
+
+
+
NA
NA
+
+
+
+
NA
NA
-
-
+
NA
+
0
NA
0
0
+0
+'
-
NA
0
NA
NA
NA
0
NA
NA
NA
+
-
+
0
+
+
+
O
NA
0
NA
+-
0
FRESS
43
CHAPTER 3
APPLICATIONS OF TEXT PROCESSING
processing in
and
many
are
There
varied
the business world.
of
applications
Basically,
text
any document
which undergoes constant revision and modification, or whose
bulk
is
good
is a
often,
repeated
calculation,
or
operation,
repetitive
a
text
processing is an iterative
The analogy in data
processing.
for
candidate
which
of
both
However, it
provided early impetus to computer development.
has not been until recently that text processing in any bulk
has been considered seriously.
3.1 USES
The various applications can
requirements
of the
features
discussed in Chapter 2,
mentioned
of
summary
several
exhaustive cover the
table, several of
while
which,
the categories could conceivably
not
In this
cover a
For instance, a Sears & Roebuck
different cababilities than
small manufacturing firm producing
A
Table 3.1 is
spectrum of uses adequately.
catalog would certainly require
products.
modularity.
applications,
wide range of requirements.
one from a
framework
in the
working storage, permanent
namely:
storage, editing, formatting, and
a
be characterized by their
brief discussion
of the
less than 20
nature of
all these
TABLE 3. 1
APPLICATIONS REQUIREMENTS
PERM'T
WORK
STORAGE STORAGE FORMATTING EDITING MODULARITY
APPLICATION
CORRESPONDENCE
CONTRACTS
REPORTS
LISTINGS
DIRECTORIES
PROPOSALS
MANUALS
SPECIFICATIONS
PUBLICATIONS
0
-
0
+
0
0
+
0
+
-
0
-
+
-
0
0
0
+
+
+
+
+
+
0
+
+
+
0
+
+
+
0
+
0
+
-+
-+
+
0
0
documents follows.
3.1.1 Correspondence
context,
In this
correspondence is
no more than 4
letters of
the storage requirements
are minimal, perhaps on
for extensive editing capabilities
be correcting typing
changes.
lot of
A
of short
of length,
Because
or 5 pages.
of ten to twenty thousand characters.
would merely
comprised
the order
There is also no need
since most of the editing
other minor
errors, and
short correspondence
consists of
form
letters, and if this is the case, then retrieval of standard
paragraphs
feature.
for
The
"boiler
plating"
would
number of formatting features
be
a
necessary
required would
also be relatively few since the standard letter is not very
complicated in nature. Depending on
the filing system used,
45
the
archival
of
cost
is
output
Compatibility
cartridge.
tape or
and
acceptable,
most
are
letters
with other
since typed
not very important
output devices is
input or
important
user intends to store very many of the
consideration if the
documents on
an
be
could
storage
relatively
independent of other documents.
3.1.2 Contracts
generally,
any medium length document
plating," would fall in this category.
requirements
are
would be
editing
slightly
The
to be
can
more
quite
intricate.
composition equipment
The editing
demanding
since
global
of text
large blocks
are
formatting requirements are likely
more than minimal since
get
of the documents,
used as support.
necessary and
likely to be moved.
such as "boiler
Storage requirements
not only for the length
various input files
but for
or
(7 to 20 pages) which
shares common characteristics of a contract,
would be larger,
contracts
insurance
or
medical,
legal,
Any
might be
the structure of
Compatibility
an important
the appearance of the contract is important.
a contract
with
photo
feature since
3.1.3 Reports
many internal
There are
which
processing.
on current topics is
A report
example.
well suited
example since
one
another especially
up-to date
contain more
it can
time.
in preparation
to the decrease
information due
authors is
by several
report prepared
A
text
computer aided
of
good applications
would be
reports
as external
as well
The
existence of different reports on tape can also constitute a
data base for
proposals, if much
larger documents, such as
of the same information is presented in each.
The storage
requirements for reports, of
course, vary
with the length.
Typically, it would require
on the order
of
one
hundred
The
excessive.
deletes,
thousand
editing
inserts, moves,
requirements
etc., but
include
should
not
is
which
characters
too
usual
the
also have
the
several files. When reports
ability to merge and manipulate
are prepared by several authors, or are pieced together from
several
other documents,
this feature
formatting needs would include
footings, and
page control.
page numbering
is important.
column alignments, headings,
in addition
to the
Permanent storage requirements would
excessive since reports
superceded in time.
The
tend to be current
standard
not be
and are usually
There is no great need for output other
than the usual typewritten appearance but compatibility with
other computers may be desirable.
47
3.1.4 Listings
Listings
typically
such
good
as
parts,
applications
frequent
complete or
storage
requirements
inventories,
of
partial
would
text
price
processing
updating
probably
or
are
due
to
that occurs.
not
exceed
The
twenty
thousand characters, but that would depend on the size.
editing features required would rarely
The
be more than insert,
delete, or change so that an exotic editing system would not
Formatting features would include
be needed.
columnar
footnotes
alignment,
among the
great need for
headings,
page
requirements.
tab setting,
numbering and
There
permanent storage of every
would
perhaps
not be
revision in
a
this
application.
3.1.5 Directories
Directories are good candidates for text processing for
the same reason as listings,
document.
The storage
frequent updating of one basic
requirements
greater, however, with lengthier
formatting, and permanent storage
same as those
for listings.
directories.
be
The editing,
requirements are much the
However, there
be little need for compatibility
devices.
potentially could
would probably
with other input or output
48
3.1.6 Proposals
particularly
are
Proposals
Revisions
processing for several reasons.
are conceived
they
feature
This
typing.
than just
rather
can be made when
final
to the
prior
the
of
management
enhances
also
text
to
suited
well
document since its status, or any portion of it, can be made
known to the
manager simply by requesting
The
a printout.
lower total preparation time also means that more up-to date
those documents which are of
information can be included in
benefits
of
such as
Of course,
the
formatted
attractively
free,
mistake
a
much of the
other documents
proposals.
previous
reports or
internal
usual
be retrieved from
of
something
In addition,
the customer.
progress report to
information can
representing
nature,
pre-proposal
the
documents are also important for many proposals.
The storage
quite extensive.
requirements for
About one to
of storage
would be needed for
supporting
documents.
should also
The
two million characters worth
the document itself and the
power of
revisions before the final product
should have the
formatting requirements
to
the
go through
is approved.
capability to manipulate files
would be need to merge
structural
function
the editing
since proposals
be extensive
would be
most proposals
The system
since there
information from several files.
would probably be
nature
of proposals
many
The
considerable due
and
due
to
the
49
would be
kept for any length of time,
great.
must be
final copy
since only the
extensive but
requirements
Permanent storage
of appearance.
importance
these requirements are not too
Compatibility with photo composition printing may be
desirable but probably is not necessary.
3.1.7 Manuals
in the
total elapsed time
is reduction of the
via text processing
Following this, the
felt in the field substantially sooner.
author's editing
to edit
required
Along these
modified
for another,
product,
so that
the
also
in
completely
not be
other
using
written
be
may be
the differences
need
new manual
document.
one customer
consistent with
may
Manuals
rewritten.
the entire
not
a manual for
same lines,
only be
since he would
time is conserved
the revisions
can be
impact of update
Thus, the
revision cycle.
manuals
of producing
greatest advantage
Probably the
documents such as internal reports or specifications to ease
the process considerably.
The
storage
requirements
most
for
would
manuals
probably be quite large depending on both the manual length,
and the
used.
number of
The
comprehensive
editing
features
because of
changing of text.
the
needed
amount
Formatting would
editions
or previous
support documents
would
be
fairly
of manipulating
and
also be quite important
50
since, often, the layout of a
Communication to
of use.
also be necessary if
manual can determine its ease
equipment may
photo composition
the manuals are for customer use.
3.1.8 Specifications
Engineering and architectural specifications are one of
the
best,
date,
and to
processing.
one
of the reasons
that specification
the fact
for its widespread
writing is
structured
a well
personnel.
The chief benefit derived from the production of
the
consuming one
use is
yet a
via
time
text
procedure,
specifications
very
of
used applications
most
computer is
the
involving
freeing
of
key
the
specification writer for other more professional activities.
Also of
meet
importance are the
deadlines and
requirements.
the master
bulk of the
a reduction
Linked
implementation of
decrease in production
strongly
specification.
Once a
to
successful
is the
concept of
master is
one to two
million characters
Ideally the
editing requirements should be
specification
concept,
to include
production period.
various versions during the
master
supplying a few
specification writing are
masters and
the
available the
(Chapter 2).
The storage requirements for
of
personnel
the
produced upon
specification is
order of
stenographic
specification writing
key variables to the system
on the
in
time to
minimal because
but
practically,
51
extensive editing
requirements are
formatting
level generation
automatic
extensive
include
and should
in addition
numbering
and
The
jobs.
of individual
and the customizing
master files
maintenance of
for the
is required both
is a
Since a contract specification
other usual features.
to
legal document, the permanent storage requirements are large
and
are
photo
for
Capability
serious consideration.
a
composition, again, may be desirable, but not necessary.
3.1.9 Publications
Publications
newspapers,
used at
conceptualization
addition
In
processing,
article can
be kept
feature can be
his
thought
to
normal
the
a
enough.
is large
subject,
development of an error in his work.
the
text
to an
all revisions made
if the system
particular
of
benefits
used by an author to trace
on
for
tape
a
production of
complete record of
a
the author's
of production, from
the
to
magazines,
books,
Text processing can be
or any other periodical.
almost any phase
printer.
either
refer to
can
This
the evolution of
or
trace
the
It can also be used to
provide important evolutionary information
if an article is
legally challenged (22).
The editing capabilities,
formatting capabilities, and
storage requirements would all be quite large if-this system
were fully
implemented.
Output compatibility with
a photo
52
composition system would also be important.
3.1.10 Other Uses
These
hardcopy
typical
of
some examples
been
have
Given a
oriented applications which have been used to date.
certain
volume of
justified
However, there are other applications of text
economically.
which
methods of
doing traditional
in
documents
lines.
communication
of
the
form
This
procedure
is
such concept
One
tasks.
new
than
rather
concepts
new
involve
processing
sending
readily
can be
these
work,
over
text
files
can
replace
two
service
and
of
communication,
mail
telephone conversations.
Of course, not
all phone calls or
traditional
be eliminated by
mail will
several
methods
of
examples
each
there are
text processing, but
it
where
can
be
both
more
productive and convenient.
to mailing
With respect
rather than
documents by
text processing
there are
two predominant
the postal service,
advantages, speed and
document, even
reliability.
if special delivery
The delivery time
is specified,
can take
several days in even the most efficient postal services.
an alternative,
formatting
a text file
specifications
communication lines
in a matter
containing a document
can
be
of a
transmitted
As
and its
over
(usually telephone) to
its destination
The cost
of this service
of minutes or hours.
53
expensive than
be more
would
cost of
the
documents,
would
delays
some
but for
mail service,
orders
be many
of
magnitude greater than the difference.
The document sent by
system also is more
reliable than postal
a text processing
service since there is a finite chance for a document to get
the
of the difficulty,
verification
important
of
a
or
complete
for both
the
by the lack of
transmission.
receiver and
processing equipment, in
full benefits,
but service organizations
were sensitive
as they
would also
language
be beneficial
(Chapter
to the
if a
It
sender
necessary text
long
can merely
be
This loss can be signaled by the receiver if
retransmitted.
aware
lost, it
otherwise is
transmission or
he is
the document gets jumbled in
However, if
lost in the mail.
a system
would
to have
order to
used as
necessary speed.
4) existed to insure
the
reap the
could be
universal text
be
It
description
compatibility among
different systems.
can also
Text processing
whose speed is
calls.
replace some
the spectrum, telephone
on the other end of
most interactive form of
The telephone provides the
in
communication
correspondence does
many instances,
the
to be
a question will be
period of research, and finally a
repeated in
sometimes
the
that interactive.
In
business world,
not need
either direction
but
asked followed by a long
reply.
many times
needlessly tieing up the line for
communications
hours.
This cycle can be
during the
call,
What is needed is
54
a method of correspondence that falls somewhere between mail
processing,
With text
interactive capability.
and the telephone in its
this correspondence can take place in almost the
form of a
send his questions in the
initiator would simply
When the
file which would print on the receiver's terminal.
the answers can be
necessary information has heen gathered,
sent
whichever is
file
by
phone or
by
The
it utilizes less resources.
same total elapsed time but
more
expedient.
Another implication of this form of communication is that it
allows the person being questioned to decide which matter he
first.
should attend to
see what questions
own
his
use
the one
he can
the alternative method,
With
him first.
who calls
a person is
his attention to
less constrained to give
more or
can
With telephone calls,
have to be answered as they
more
has
item
which
to
judgement as
come in and
priority.
There
be accomplished besides the
destribution functions that can
discussed.
intracompany ones
Xerox
copies,
completely
dubious
it
deluged
value
interest to him
to
is
by
documents
apply to
every worker and
parts of
may
be
to
be
are
of
of
general
important enough to
information.
A
of
worker
manager to different
the report.
the age
contents
whose
The subject
like detailed
he would
a
for
and parts of it may be
him that
different
instance in
For
not uncommon
him.
information
intercompany
many
also
are
This
would
extents on
customized report
for
55
for different groups would be
every one or several versions
two solutions to
this problem.
would clearly be
The first
too much work, and the second would involve some compromises
since there are bound to be cases when a member of one group
more information than
would want
Text processing can aid in this situation on several
group.
It
dimensions.
can greatly
of
versions
the
version of
a report
contain
same
versions sent
other sections.
details of
customizing the
possible with
concept of a
text processing
group.
The
level of
further,
would also
recommended distribution list for
more or less detailed information
a
department 1
There
systems.
that
the report.
one step
each individual
report for
to
might contain
given to
Going
be
could be
a
the various
the option of obtaining
Each receiver would have
versions.
interest
2
a
department 1
of other sections of
to department
the
For instance,
sent to
the detailed information
summary of
and
files.
to be
by
simply
information of
department, and summaries
Likewise,
document
which is
detailed
different
facilitate creating
of different
inclusion/exclusion
would
to his
has been allotted
than other members of his
detail need not
be restricted
to an
on/off option, but may consist of several levels to add more
flexibility.
managers
who
would
This
could
of
be
especially
receive summaries
especially
details
only
involve
adopting different
important
writing
useful
of
busy
everything
and
This
may
items.
styles
to
than are
used
be
would
information,
providing
writing reports,
intent of
the real
today, but
accomplished.
better
new
These
concepts in office communication could radically improve the
information
flow to
enhance
the
total operation
the
of
company.
3.2 USERS
How
business?
much is
computer aided
Not nearly as much as
text
in
it could be, but more than
The reasons that it
most people are
aware of.
more are many:
ignorance of the full
resisting doing things
processing used
is not used
benefits, inertia in
differently if it is
not absolutely
necessary, and misconceptions of the scope of reorganization
necessary to sucessfully implement a text processing system.
Following are a few examples of text processing users in the
Boston area, including how their systems evolved, the system
description, and what applications are included.
3.2.1 Stone & Webster
Stone
engages in
& Webster
the design
is
a
large engineering
and construction
firm
of large
which
electric
generating plants for public utilities as well as processing
plants for other industries.
the growth of
Its
growth is closely tied to
the electric utility companies,
which in the
57
The growth
years.
in
and paperwork.
in personnel
is the
growth in paperwork
Compounding this
been
course, has
of
the company,
a large growth
accompanied by
ten
capacities every
generating
their
have doubled
past
Atomic Energy
Commission's requirements for documentation of safety before
nuclear
licensing
documentation
impossible to find
It was
effects.
of environmental
for
requirements
Agency's
Protection
Environmental
the
recently,
more
and
plants,
enough typists to produce
becoming
the necessary
documentation.
typing load, Stone & Webster
To help keep up with this
using Data
began
service
bureau in
first from a
Services were
October, 1 968.
printed output to
be typed at
obtained
in addition.
in New York was obtained
was a capability
service bureaus, th ere
a
D.C. and later,
bureau located i n Washington,
service from one
with most
ATS, through
forerunner of
Text, the
the terminals
As
for the
in Boston, but
the number of pages required by Stone & Webster necessitated
the
use
of
Consequently
the
the
However,
this service was
problems,
when ATS
at
printers.
line
the
to Stone
bureau
and
Webster.
&
less than completely satisfactory
experienced due
weather conditions,
Service
1970
were often
plane
or
by bus
overnight
speed
was printed
output
shipped
since delays
high
bureaus'
bureaus usage
was installed
to transportation
etc.
was
discontinued in
on the
November,
company's IBM
360/65
58
the
volume of work which
Office Management department. With the
was done at that time,
controlled by
centrally
was
This service
computer.
implementation on their own computer
was the least costly option.
during this period not only
The use of text processing
stenographic department
growth rate of the
for keeping the
also was responsible
to be completed, but
allowed the work
less than that of the total administrative personnel.
The
using
ATS department,
Twelve
buildings.
near future.
are to
more terminals
four
in
in the
be added
The memory capacity is
(soon to be upgraded to three million) of which
With this set up, all
a 210K partition is dedicated to ATS.
43 terminals can be in
"thrashing"
operators
These terminals are connected to the company's
IBM 370/165 operating under OS/MVT.
1,500K bytes
of 43
located
are
which
terminals
2741
IBM
today, consists
of
(periods
it is
important since
operation simultaneously without any
waiting).
the objective
This
is
of the
to
felt
be
department to
keep all terminals in operation as much as possible.
In addition
direct access
permanent storage
disks each having 100 million
there is
"working storage"
to the 210K
provided by
two IBM
locations available.
This is
roughly equivalent to 60,000 single spaced typed pages.
documents which are
not currently being worked
also magnetic tape available for
problems
at
the
present
time
storage.
occur
3330
For
on there is
The only storage
because
users
are
59
tape when appropriate.
many documents
causing
storage
access
direct
transfer
automatically
to
written
being
This results in too
To deal with this problem, a program
occasional saturation.
is
transferred to
on
residing
needlessly
in
can be
that they
documents so
priority of
decrease
of the
center
ATS
inform the
to
reluctant
non-current
documents from disk to tape as more storage is needed.
printer, which
strictly
use.
this
Normally
line
speed
but is
device prints
1100
upper and lower case chain it
lines per minute but with the
operates at about 650 lines
1403 high
computer center,
in the
is located
for ATS
IBM
an
printed on
is
Output
per minute.
Working copies are
final copies, which require
produced throughout the day and
a higher quality ribbon and special font, are produced twice
a day.
Although
the majority
ATS
of
in
terminals are
constantly, the demand on the computer is quite small.
use
With
the 360 the CPU was involved with ATS operation about 12 per
cent of the time,
is used by ATS
but with the 370, the CPU
less than 5 per cent of the time.
The charging scheme used by Stone & Webster attempts to
completely cover all
that
result
from
control equipment,
costs
are allocated
permanent
storage,
costs incurred by the
ATS
including
terminals,
printing, storage and CPU
to
the
archive
computer center
department by
storage,
transmission
usage.
These
connect
time,
printing,
and
tape
60
differentiation of
The
transfer.
A program keeps track of all
an indication of
annual costs
report not only identifies
This weekly
customers wish to see the
To give
ATS usage and a weekly billing
trail in case
billed, but serves as an audit
who should be
- for
archive
use of tapes where appropriate.
storage is to encourage the
report is produced.
and
permanent
details of their "computer bill".
of the ATS
the scope
- are
hardware alone
usage, the
on the
order of
$500,000.
The greatest single use of ATS is in the preparation of
specifications.
well because
most of the
there are
text, and
likely to be made.
writing
document is composed
many review
has resulted
levels where
of standard
changes are
to a decreased typing load,
In addition
of engineers'
reduction
lends itself particularly
This application
time and
from ATS
effort in
use.
Of
specification
course, the
most
important benefit is the reduction of total elapsed calendar
time in producing the specifications.
For a
period of
time, short
correspondence was
also
produced via ATS, but since no significant benefits could be
identified, it was discontinued.
is now typed
with Redactor twin card or
better results.
defining
This short correspondence
long or
Seven to ten
tape machines with
pages is the usual breakpoint
short documents,
but
some judgement
is
exercised by management in determining whether a document is
produced by
manual, card, or
tape driven
typewriters, or
61
ATS.
layout, then it might
extensive column
later key it
first, and
document requires
if a relatively long
For instance,
made.
been arranged and first revision
type it
columns have
ATS after the
in to
the labor intensive portion
be best to
This would transfer
of production (organization and
layout) from a capital intensive machine (the ATS terminal).
would
where the
be one
and levels
expected revisions
would probably
the document
such that
review are
document
of a
first draft
typing the
example of
Another
of
require
complete retyping.
as shown
a document
basic methods of originating
There are two
method takes
The first
3.2.
in Figures 3.1 and
advantage of master documents such as standard specification
proposals of job lists, which have been created in the past.
After retrieval, the master is
job
and
resulting
the
same procedure.
to the
here, both
and
original
an
then keyed
methods follow
originator.
originator marks the
keyed in,
printed, and
continued
until no
final copy
which is
stored
into
the
The printed document is proofread by an ATS
and returned
required, the
is
submit
to
is
method
From
printed.
storage and
document
working
ATS department
to the
document
checker
second
The
printed.
customized to the particular
further changes
is printed.
from disk to tape.
returned to
The
If changes
original which
him.
are
This
is then
process is
required and
document should then
are
the
be moved
Jobs are handled on a first-in-first-out
62
FIGURE 3.1
TWO METHODS
DOCUMENTS AT
OF ORIGINATING
STONE & WEBSTER
63
FIGURE 3.2
I:
JLJ
U'-
I -.
%.
I U I
Ll A1li
E
EO"
FIWL
PRODUCTION
DOCUMENTS AT STONE & WEBSTER
64
basis,
and the
typical
turnaround,
on the order of three days.
it is
this
considerably better
necessary, in
delay is
due to
than the
other
departments.
efficient
Faster service can be
centralized nature
However,
it
is
of the
given to
purposes
centralization
that
ATS
in the form of
control
for
felt
Some of
the service
reflected in
operation,
traditional
emergency situations.
the
would be
-job
updated copy, is
department, since one department's activity,
ATS demands,
time a
While this is not instantaneous
typing methods would ever accomplish.
arranged, it
the
until he receives an
leaves an originator
response,
from
and
is
necessary.
With computer
has no trouble
& Webster
typing delays.
they could not even begin to produce the
business operation
documents necessary for their
simply because
Stone
processing,
meeting deadlines because of
Without the system,
number of
aided text
there are not
enough typists in
the Boston
area available to perform these tasks.
3.2.2 Camp,
Camp,
sized
Dresser,
Dresser and
McKee, Inc.
consulting engineering
specification
Inc.
and McKee,
contracts
firm who
and
Environmental Protection Agency.
require the
facilities
is a
of an ITB
also,
It is
small to
medium
also produces
many
for
the
documents
not large enough to
370 or even a
360.
They
65
are a member APEC and like most
1130.
They typically
regular eight
members they do have an IBM
only operate the computer
to five work day,
so that some
during the
surplus time
could be made available for text processing.
Up
until the
summer of
1971,
MT/ST's
automatic typewriters were the only
of
the more
sharing
repetitive chores
services had
turnaround
of line
been
system.'
of the
program was
for civil
printer service
in
not
As a second
terminal,
is
the
in mind,
since it
disk devices,
tape
each
is
on
disk or
operate on
the
1130 does
card input,
efficient
having 512K words of
on
their
cards.
The
SPECS
was designed
rather
under
storage is provided by
drive implemented
day
other
the
and would
so that
most
one
addition to
generation computer,
circumstances. Secondary
storage
this
engineering specifications
support multiprogramming,
than
no
of
but the
Time
less desirable than an
purchased and installed
the 1130.
typing load.
investigated
With all
1200
devices used to do some
considerations made this alternative
in-house
and Wang
the
three 2315
storage.
system so
2315's have
There is
that
all
removable
cartridges costing between $40 and $90, depending on whether
they are purchased new or used.
firm,
ten
are
comprised of
word contains
dedicated
16 bits
to
Of the seventy owned by the
SPECS
and may be
two characters.
characters worth
of storage will
use.
Each
compacted such
This means
word
is
that each
that a
million
cost between $40
and $90
66
about $1 for 800
compared to
an inexpensive
punched cards which is
other alternative is
A tape drive is
method of storage, but not very convenient.
available for
When
month.
such that
this system
The only
bpi magnetic tape.
and leases
the requirements
the acquistion of a
for about
$1000 per
storage become
for archival
wil become
tape drive drive
more economical, it will be added to the system.
produced on an
Output is
upper and lower case chain
turn
limited by
is
accesses.
the theoretical speed is reduced
which in
computer processing speed,
a function of
the
However, the actual printing speed
to 270 lines per minute.
is more
but with
per minute,
660 lines
operates at
normally
printer which
IBM 1403 line
slow
of relatively
number
the
disk
50 lines per minute with
Practically, a speed of
the normal number of modifications is more realistic.
CDM, the
At
which are
expenses
computer costs
are
the various
allocated to
The specifications department does
computer time since only about
departments.
not charge customers for
35 per cent of specification
no fair
Under these circumstances
done by SPECS.
work is
overhead
treated as
charging scheme could be easily
implemented.
The amount of
computer time available to SPECS is a result of negotiations
at budgeting
hours
a
week,
emergencies.
concept,
time, and
only
is presently
with
Since SPECS
jobs
additional
between eight
time
operates under
for which
to ten
available
for
the master
file
a suitable master
exists or
67
limitation
up-to-date
second
A
master specifications.
maintain
write and
to
concentrated effort
being
SPECS is
run by
jobs
number of
to the
by a
improved
This current
are produced with SPECS.
can be constructed,
the
shift on
computer is planned for in the future as more of the work is
shifted to SPECS.
using
job
typical
The
a project master file of
the master file, thereby producing
He then makes
gets a printout.
which he
the
turnaround is
the originator
to the
This
routine is
average
jobs are only
but
special paper
repeated as
through the required levels of
The
printed.
when
day,
less than a
days due
specified
needed.
deck, submits, and returns
She then prepares the
output to
additions and/or
to a SPECS trained keypunch
corrections and submits the job
operator.
a
options from
the various
who chooses
specification writer
by
initiated
is
SPECS
run on
chain
and print
the document
passes
accepted.
review until it is
The updated project master should be saved for legal reasons
until the project is
A
primary
manager
of the
completed.
benefit
of SPECS,
Specification
as
Writing
by
the
Department, is
the
identified
amount of time it saves the writers themselves rather than a
reduction
in the
typing load.
throughput, this savings
keep up-to-date in
the
In
addition to
of time is used by
increasing
the writers to
latest specification requirements by
the various regulatory agencies.
Another benefit mentioned
68
processing is not a
Computer aided text
organization,
Not
felt to be of great value.
but is
under CP-67/CMS.
360/67 operating
programmers, managers,
it.
reason to use
benefit in that
frequency of
This broad range of access
there is an improvement in
programmers documentation.
for their dislike
and inability to write.
in part
occurs
by
has one side
the quality and
no small
This is
notorious
programmers are
engineers and
IBM
has any
anyone who
secretaries, or
better documentation
is used
The system
improvement since
of
on their
processors, implemented
in-house text
among
SCRIPT program,
uses the
processing division,
of the
Center, part
Cambridge Scientific
The
text
of
user
large
a
is
IBM
surprisingly,
processing.
other
necessity for this
Cambridge Scientific Center
3.2.3 IBM,
data
which result.
better quality, error-free documents
was the
This phenomenon
because
it is
a
system with which the programmers can more readily identify,
ie.
programming
Also,
the
and computers
rather than
revisions and
ease with which
made encourages improvements
pen and
paper.
modifications are
to the point that
a precision
in writing results which is usually not attainable
The SCRIPT program is used as a design tool by at least
one programming
design of
manager at
a programming
IBM.
In
the evolution
system, English,
of the
rather than
any
69
and how it is supposed to
system; what it is supposed to do
system
the
into
scattered
the
of
many
Since
the use
of the
contributing
system
updated by
description is
system
the
of
edition
current
the
are introduced
improved methods
ideas and
As new
do it.
SCRIPT program.
are
designers
SCRIPT
geographic locations,
throughout various
the
completely describe
used to
language, is
programming
facilitates and generally improves the communications, since
designer has
each
system description via the computer.
confusion, the
designer can
that there
own contributions
keep his
is an
In the intervening periods
orderly succession of editions.
each
To prevent unwarranted
scheduled so
updates are
the
edition of
current
to the
access
in his
own
files.
Typically describing a
descriptions.
very
are
in
data,
the form of
since
program language is a
the capabilities
of
maintaining
an
of
and transmitted
tend to contain more up-to-date
forecast
task
languages
in
used
Quarterly reports are also prepared
system
the SCRIPT
telephone line
to the
suited
well
up-to-date description.
using
and again
evolutionary process,
SCRIPT
also
is
system
SCRIPT
The
the
reduced. The use of the phone
a SCRIPT file.
to
New York
by
The reports
information and, thus, less
document
preparation
time
is
lines instead of the mail for
sending the document also adds to this time savings.
70
These examples
also
variety
a wide
respect to
point is
have shown a
of
"right" method
should be clear
What
type of
is no "best"
of organization.
custom fitting the system to
from the full
It
with
at this
application, or
is simply a
matter of
the particular business which,
range of systems available,
to be too difficult a task.
uses and
organizational philosophies
text processing.
that there
wide variety of
should not prove
CHAPTER 4
INTEGRATED TEXT PROCESSING SYSTEMS
editing
In addition to
systems.
should
system for handling
management
all stored information, and
2) modular
by itself.
added incrementally
processing
a data
1)
any part of the system can
design such that
the
these basic characteristics, there
the system:
in
be included
most text
of
features
and formatting
well as
as
retrieval
incorporates information
which
advanced concept
processing (7) is an
Integrated text
function or be
last characteristics
These
are not really text processing functions, but are aspects of
the effectiveness of
if included, add to
the system which,
the system.
The many reports, proposals, specifications, contracts,
etc. of
information needed by
processing
The
systems.
manipulate these
data management
files are
system.
This
computer, or stored there as
of
the many
text
that
organize
and
one
produced by
is
it
document as
base of
operation.
a firm for everyday
information can be read into a
a
constitute a data
a business, in essence,
programs
collectively referred
For most larger
to as
a
computer systems,
these systems are readily available, and are usually part of
a computer's operating system.
document
assigned a
may
be broken
file name
up
Each
into
or number to
block of text (a large
several blocks)
identify it.
can
be
The data
72
stored information.
access any of the
processing system to
text
the
for
possible
make it
would
system
management
Most of the computer based text processing systems have this
capability.
data
detailed
information.
identifiers
These additional
to
more
would
author, subject,
information such as
include bibliographic
able
supplying
identifiers
additional
by
retrieve
must be
system
processing
the text
time,
long
base.
kept for a
or is to be
data base is large
However, if the
data
the
in
the documents
of
track
keeping
for
be adequate
to each file may
The identifiers assigned
or title, and index information such as keywords supplied by
the
The
author.
some
supplying
bibliographic
then
user
information.
the
If
or general
more restrictive
desired number of relevant documents
be made
instance,
if
a
list
reading
combination.
documents
or
the
Once
is retrieved, they may
a variety of
user in
available to the
of
or small, the user would
identified as sources is too large
use a
number
by
and
keywords
of
combination
logical
information
retrieves
bibliography
For
ways.
is
being
from the system would be
merely be a
listing of document titles, authors, and dates.
If the user
assembled, the output
is
"cutting
entire text.
and pasting",
In
both
he may
of these
hardcopy, a visual display on a
data base.
Only a few
wish a
cases,
the
printout of
output may
the
be
CRT, or another file in the
text processing systems
have these
features incorporated in them currently.
system
editing
The
text
integrated
an
in
used
processing system should be a context editor as opposed to a
to provide for
numbers may also be used
Line
line editor.
locating of information, but
the supplemental
there should
be no restrictions in manipulating text contained on several
lines.
making
facilitates
only
editor not
context
The
corrections because it is a more natural way of working, but
it permits limited information retrieval since it can locate
Most
occurs.
of the
making
feature when
or making corrections wherever
global revisions,
subject matter
a useful
This is
character strings.
a certain
based
newer computer
text processing systems use context editors.
formatting
The
part of a
should be a
processing system
formatting commands interspersed in
desired
structure
information
which the
generalized text
of
the text and are usually
These only
the particular system.
appearance
text
integrated
Most of the existing systems have the
description language.
unique to
an
of
commands
the document
appearance
structure refers
nothing
and
of
to convey.
attempts
to such
describe the
things as
the
The
headings,
emphasis, footnotes, captions, or any other predefined type.
With this description language, the text would be identified
with tags which would specify the structural relationship of
the rest
of the
that particular
part with
tags would then
be translated by a user
document.
The
defined code which
74
to produce
the output device
be interpreted by
would then
For instance, if a
document.
the desired appearance of the
word is to be emphasized, the output code for a line printer
a line printer
the output code for
a
a footnote
might specify
specify placement at the bottom
for a printing system might
The structure may also help
of the page and a smaller type.
in data retrieval
for
the output code
the bottom of a page, and
merely typing at
code
output
specify boldface type. If
printing system might
is used,
the
and
underlining,
specify
might
since a user may
all of
want to look at
the headings in a document, for instance, to search for some
The SPECS program does use
particular piece of information.
a structure definition to specify
scope.
text description
no universal
present there is
At
format, but is limited in
language.
In a
text processing
which performs a single function.
modularity
should
processing system.
the
user
perforated
character
for
each
tape,
reader,
Figure 4.1 shows how this
implemented in
be
The input modules
of
his
automatic
etc.
modular,
self-contained unit
smallest possible
is the
each program
is fully
system which
normal
integrated
an
written by
would be
text
typewriter
The translated
text
entry
devices,
tape,
optical
code
would
then
reside in the data base and be identified as a unique entity
by its tile
name.
Information contained in
other files is
available for this file by the retrieval system, and can be
75
v
SOURCE
TEXT
COYIPG SITION 4
FILE
RETRIEVAL
US ER
OUTPUT
CODE
6
DEVICE
ORIENTED
OUTPUT
MOD UL E
DEVICE
ORIENTED
OUTPUT
MODULE
rT
77 n"
itr'~
MODULARITY IN AN INTEGRATED
TEXT PROCESSING SYSTEM
DEVICE
ORIENTED
OUTPUT
MODULE
76
in
included
composition.
or
immediately
file
new
the
editor can be used
The context
later
during
to operate on
the document in any phase of its production; during input or
The system would refer to
just prior to final composition.
user defined
output codes,
output devices.
At this point,
would translate
the code into
produce output
for a
codes
generalized
would include
which
and then
files
variety
of
user written output modules
device dependent
coding for
final production.
Modularity
text
permits
systems
processing
to
be
customized for the individual users, and tailored to conform
implementation constraints
to any
systems,
operating
or
modularity permits an easy conversion
system
processing
since
features
Also,
systems.
management
data
hardware,
of particular
to an integrated text
be
can
introduced
incrementally as they are needed.
4.1 EXAMPLES OF INTEGRATED TEXT PROCESSORS
While no system possesses all of the features described
in the previous
section, there are a few
who incorporate a
significant number of them to be classified as an integrated
text
processor.
together
a
feasibility
The
system
of
such
Textual Information
Cambridge Scientific
from existing
a system.
programs
The
Center has
put
prove
the
to
system,
INteractive
Management Experiment (INTIME)
(7),
is
77
operational on their IBM System/360-67, but for IBM internal
File management is provided by CMS.
use only.
Creation and modification of text is done interactively
for
generality
the
text
description
lacks
language
The
commands
from the
program
This
documents.
the
in
imbedded
data fields.
the formatting
program provides
SCRIPT
a keyword dictionary from
stores bibliographic
and also
is
Processing
Document
System/360
The system creates
System (DPS).
the text
IBM
the
by
accomplished
retrieval
and
storage
document
The
position.
relative
number and
line
lines by
address
can also
and
context editor
a
editor is
This
program CMS EDIT.
by the
the
discussed
earlier, but is suitable for line printer output.
The INTIME system is used by the IBM publications staff
of
publication.
prepare
to
development group
program
a
manuals
for
be revised periodically to
These manuals must
When such changes are
reflect changes made to the programs.
the retrieval routines are used to locate the relevant
made,
of
parts
context editor.
a
by
mode
which
the manuals,
are
with
then revised
the
The final copies are then produced in batch
special
user program
and
a
general
purpose
composition processor.
FRESS
can
processing system
It
is
described
also
be
since it contains
briefly
an
considered
in
many of
Chapter
retrieval system is not as powerful
integrated
2,
text
the features.
and
while
the
as DPS, the editing and
78
INTIME
is no
There
uses.
it incorporates all
interesting feature of FRESS
Probably the most
operation using a CRT as a terminal.
on a
CRT but
would be
These
and a
the
continue
such
a document
footnoted
sentence in
screen 1,
and the editor pointed
were a
to digress
to
or
to
were
a
a footnote,
which
if there
was displayed
to the asterisk
pointer connected to the
footnote would appear on screen 2.
the asterisk
as
example,
For
main text.
lightpen (an electrical
in the
to the footnote
branch at the end
where to
is made as to
is optional
it
link where
detailed information
further
several points
cross references would be of
branch where a choice
two types: a
proven one.
references which have been placed
text there would be cross
proceed,
At
displayed.
by the original author.
is a
three seperate viewing areas
The CRT would have essentially
where text
Hypertext
predecessor, the
its
is its
FRESS is not currently
that the concept
is, so
Editing System,
of the
File management is also provided by CMS.
systems described.
implemented
that
the method
modularity in
be implemented since
FRESS can
the ones
better than
are comparable or
formatting systems
on
with the
CRT),, the
A visual line would link
across the screen.
of the footnote,
If there
indicating that
further information were available from several sources, the
source indicated by the user's
on
screen
3, again
with
a
lightpen would then be shown
visable line
information to the branch "menu".
connecting
the
FRESS will always be able
-14
-
ots
FIGURE 4.2
HYPERTEXT DISPLAYED ON A CRT
to trace
the browsing backwards
such that the
editor will
never get lost. This nonlinear travelling through a document
is
meant
by
iaLLth-emaLical
sense
of multidiinensioiality.
is
what
aimed
primarily for
the
the
term
creation
papers by university personnel,
Hypertext;
hyper
This
of theses,
in
the
sys te
is
books,
and
but could have potential for
application in the business world.
Another example
National Information
of integrated
text processing
Center, an information utility
is
the
on the
80
University and
is implemented on
organizes
system
structure,
a
contain a
but an arbitrary number
level
third
all
subsections
to aid him in
There are also elaborate
of
a
sections, or any
first line of all
other particular combination
in the text by means
of substatements
A user may request to see
can be included for completeness.
particular section, the
approach of
statement is supposed to
complete thought,
search.
tree
less than
Each
only,
hierarchial
a statement of
each node containing
section
This
to the continuous string
3,000 characters.
one
computer.
a PDP-10
information in
the
as opposed
FRESS, with
developed at Stanford
on the NLS (19) system
This is based
here.
handled
is
information dissemination
and
storage,
the networks' documentation, archival
All of
ARPA network.
his information
methods of jumping around
of pattern searches, cross references,
statement outline structure, and keyword retrieval.
4.2 USES FOR INTEGRATED TEXT PROCESSORS
There are
limited scope
integrated text
today.
One
Honeywell
is the
ability for
information on
example of the
even the
processing systems
that are
novel use
available
seek
actual uses of
many potential and
job
which
employees to
openings
at
confidentially
at Honeywell.
lack of information flow
is the situation where one
is implemented
A
good
in an organization
department or division is laying
happy
the lack of
situations but
damper
these
on
to alleviate
these
confidentiality tends to
put a
Most firms
job.
with his
try
ways
to
One
requirements.
daily list placed on bulletin boards
way would be to have a
company, but people
throughout the
few
a
are
There
attempts.
information on personnel
distribute the
less than
that he is
letting it be known
ramifications of
a
various
the
of
because
company
own
his
than
where
companies for a change
dissatisfied employee looks to other
rather
situation
the
is
category
this
into
falling
Also,
hiring.
another is
time
same
at the
people
off
would soon catch
on if
one person was spending an inordinate amount of time reading
bulletin boards, and
hence, the security criteria
Another method would be
violated.
would be
to circulate the list to
or week, but
each employee
every day
costly if the
company were very large.
this would
be quite
What Honeywell did
was to input the personnel requirement list as a file on the
computer
that
so
who has
anyone
access
a
to
computer
terminal could see the list completely confidentially.
can be used
by managers who realize that they
forced to lay off people
Of course, at
to
easily implement
is substantial
the system.
so
with respect
people having access
that it
However,
have few terminals, this system would
bulletin board
will soon be
as well as dissatisfied employees.
Honeywell the number of
a terminal
This
is possible
at other
to
firms who
be no better than the
to confidentiality.
As firms
82
use more terminals,
systems like this become feasible.
Another use of integrated text processing within a firm
which makes use of many terminals, is the concept of on-line
be
may
manuals
These
manuals.
computer
for
programs,
engineering procedures, legal requirements, or any standards
refer
employees
which
in
to
the
characteristic of these
documents is
infrequent
a very
users
need
understanding while the frequent
one typical method
that new
detailed
One
workday.
normal
employees or
for
presentation
users need only summaries.
to provide both
of dealing with this is
to each employee or group of employees, or only the detailed
version.
It
is usually
not possible
to provide
only the
summary since none, except possibly the author is thoroughly
familiar with
storage
the contents.
is
space
The result is
unnecessarily used
and/or
that a
users
lot of
spend
unnecessary time leafing through many pages before they find
what they want.
With integrated text processing, the manual
would be stored
in the computer and the
them in
several ways.
If he
individual can use
typically only
uses certain
sections, he can have these printed as he needs them and has
the option to di scard or keep them according to his expected
future use.
use,
In addition
the manual
could be
to, or instead
be
input in
of, this
type of
several levels
of
detail which wou ld provide complete flexibility for the full
range of users.
The display of the manual could be by means
of a CRT, printed on paper,
or some combination of the two.
83
for the first or first
For instance, it might be convenient
two
of detail
levels
printed form
The next levels of
user.
reference by the
in
be
to
displayed on a CRT since that
detail could be
type of detail will be needed
manual is on line and
The fact that the
only infrequently.
quick
for
there is only one copy (with backups) means that the process
nightmare
a
manual,
a
updating
of
normal
under
circumstances, can be accomplished quite easily.
One other possible use of an integrated text processing
system in businesses is to
Many
function.
retrieval
date, and
as
situations
couple of
author
the
where
In
of
limited to
addition to
wild
was
goose
rather
chases
for
in
his
sloppy
It may also be desirable to include
of detail
levels
in
abstract for
the
even
In time, this type of retrieval system
greater flexibility.
be implemented
could
keywords.
a few
prevent
to
well,
assignment of keywords.
a
some form
have
may be desirable to be able to access an
this information it
abstract
firms today
system, but is usually
computer aided retrieval
title, author,
provide a more complete document
in
the company
library
as well
to
faciitate the information gathering.
applications are in the
Some of these
companies,
but the
fact
remains
accomplish them is available today.
in
the
future
commonplace.
before
these
that the
It
types
future for most
capability
to
will not be too far
of
activities
are
CHAPTER 5
PRODUCTIVITY INCREASE
this
claims
many
been
have
there
thesis
how
productivity
much
the
relating
this thesis,
production of
made by
experience
first hand
existing users
resulting
benefits
professional time
and by
by the author.
increasing
from
studies
business community,
presenting results of tests conducted
and decreasing total
the
in
obtained
results of
by quoting
in the
the
in
expected
This will be accomplished
production stage of the document.
by
be
increase can
It is
of just
give an indication
of this chapter to
the purpose
increased
of
of documents.
productivity in typing and preparation
and
literature
processing equipment
text
Throughout
Other
amount
the
of
document production
time are probably more important, but are harder to measure.
It would be up to individual businesses to take advantage of
these as they see
amount
or
evaluation.
justified on
a
fit, but it is difficult to
dollar
However,
translatable
if a
measure
text processing
merely increased
put a dollar
for
objective
system can
productivity then
be
the other
benefits would add to the total value.
5.1 THESIS PRODUCTION
The production
of this thesis was
greatly facilitated
85
was one of
The system used
of text processing.
by the use
the ones available at MIT called NSCRIPT, which is a takeoff
program
SCRIPT
the
from
possesses most
editing
The
thesis.
of the
this system
of
as opposed
this
1)
were:
to typing
a
be
will
system
for using
The motivation
this chapter.
discussed later in
required for
formatting features
features
and
2,
Chapter
in
discussed
to provide
a
first hand learning experience on how text processing works,
2)
to provide
a proof
principle, 3)
of
free
to provide
labor.
learning experience
The
a
systems.
Without
first
hand experience,
the
how impressive
systems
were
importance of
their
literature presents
many of the operational realities of these
Also,
arguments.
company
various
the
might be judged according
various features and capabilities
to
the
it
in that
useful
comparing
for
framework
better
provided
was very
revealed,
so
that
features
to
designed
One
eliminate operational problems can be appreciated more.
was the fact that university
of the first problems realized
go down
computers
which can result in
was not
quite
often
a lot of work being wasted
saved periodically.
lost file are best learned first
to
take protective
duplicates
of
measures
each on
tape.
sessions,
during terminal
Also, the
hand,
such
In
organizational problems of document
if
the text
consequences of
a
and quickly lead one
as shorter
addition,
files
some
of
with
the
production are manifest
86
by
various
literature, but
been discussed in the
characteristics have
these
of
Most
an
in
made
best
chaos.
prevent
to
fashion
the
learned that
soon
revisions are
and
corrections
orderly
It is
experience.
first hand
take on a new, and more graphic meaning through experience.
The proof of principle is accomplished by producing the
text processing system and
thesis with a
comparing it with
A strictly one-off copy, with one level
conventional means.
of review, such as a thesis, is not the best application for
but in the
text processing,
for
time
necessary
valuable saving in
student time was realized.
economic basis, the two methods are
of $.75
first
per page
draft and
system,
text processing
the
with
this
proofreading,
and
typing
final
would be
copy
and
much
not
was
thus
a
On a purely
At a going rate
close.
the cost
of a
about $150.
The
for protessional typists,
a final
still be
allow so
students implicitly
While most
justified.
author's opinion can
computer budget used in this thesis was about $300, but some
of
that was
chapter, and
used
for the
much of
error learning process
were to
$150.
to
be done over,
One major
make last
test
it was
discussed
the result
of the
in the early stages.
the total
with
this
trial and
If the thesis
costs would be
benefit of text processing
minute revisions
later in
less than
is the ability
little extra
effort.
While some students forgo these last minute changes, because
of the implications of retyping,
they probably would include
them if they were using a text processing system.
provided
labor was
free
The
who
a source
from
is
capable of typing about 40 words per minute, but is prone to
would then be
Her actual output
make errors.
Since a thesis
for erasing.
pages per hour after allowance
about three
must be free of erasures, this would mean many retyped pages
in
She
efficiency.
lower
considerably
would
which
form
final
the
of the
type a document
flatly refused to
her
thesis' length and quality, but was receptive to the idea of
using the text processing system.
only have
to type the basic
where necessary.
pages per
Her output
hour during
increase
increased to
the input phase,
in
make revisions
text once, and
pages per hour in the editing
significant
This meant that she would
more than
four
about ten
and was
phase, indicating there was a
productivity
on
part.
her
if
applied to the production of a first draft and a final copy,
this increase in productivity amounts
The fact that
other
she would do it
with one system but
some indication
also gives
to about 94 per cent.
of
the morale
not the
boosting
properties of a text processing system.
5.2 INDUSTRY REPORTS
Not everyone who has installed a text processing system
can produce figures
would
require
the
documenting their savings.
normal
"industrial
To
do this
engineered",
88
standard
difficult
are
which
hours,
average
measurement,
methods-time
analysis,
task
as
things
and
apply
to
are few
There
most secretarial activities.
effectively to
such
includes
This
standards program.
work
formalized,
organizations that have large typing pools and while some do
apply these methods
not
for
indicate
The
policy.
of
reason
that
to these typing specialists,
results
published
few
increases
significant
others do
from
resulted
have
relatively simple systems.
One
which
office
New Jersey
into a
output from
95 lines per day
On a
who
producing
about three
corrections
words
60
or four
and retypings
a minute,
practicalities
(10).
Part of
of
to 800.
words per
were done.
the secretary
actually
was
minute when
all
per minute,
equipment and reorganizations, this
twenty words
increased
with the old system
this means that
words per minute basis
ostensibly types
group, has
processing
word
specialists
typing
organizes eight
With the
automatic
increased to fifteen to
again taking
setup, referencing
the increase is due to
into account
all the
button
pushing
and
the reduced pressure
of typists, since they no longer had to fear making mistakes
which
necessitate retyping.
This allows
typing at
draft
speeds throughout a document with no slowing at the end when
the fear of errors in the greatest.
an increase
of this magnitude
The greatest portion of
however, is probably
the reproductive capability of the system.
due to
In another case,
89
firm reports that,
a large engineering
one
computer supported
as a
rule of thumb,
and a
worth two
terminal is
half
typewriters for the type of work they do.
The Dartnell Institute of
has placed the cost of the
average business letter at $3.31
$1.17 twenty years
compared to
down as follows:
Business Research in Chicago
ago.
"dictator's time (based upon
72 cents; secretarial time
salary),
86 cents;
cents;
99
vacations, etc.),
26
charges (overhead, office
maintenance, etc.),
materials costs (stationary, envelopes,
mailing
envelopes),
costs
21 cents;
(including
filing
sealing
costs,
offices where editing typewriters have
of the
$250 a week
(base salary, $132),
cents; nonproductive labor (illnesses,
cents; fixed
are broken
The costs
average typewritten
and
71 cents
etc.) 10
stamping
(24)."
In
been used, the costs
document have
decreased thirty
nine per cent using this formula. (8)
5.3 EXPERIMENT
It is very
per cent, 100
output by 50
good that a firm can increase
percent.
per cent, or even 1000
However, if
the documents consist exclusively of form letters where only
a name
has to be inserted
manually, then perhaps
a little
more breakdown in information is needed on how the increases
in
productivity were
meaningful.
accomplished for
The capability to copy
the
numbers to
be
or modify standard text
90
is
a strong
benefits
due
to
this
business, so
particular
of a
function
feature will
also
depend
that
on
the
particular business.
However, increases in typing speed for
a
can
given
time slice
implications
of
the
be
productivity
universally applicable.
speed
has
little
productivity,
meaning for
test
the
productivity
increase
Although the level of
meaning
when
change in
change in
was given
measured fairly
translated
typing speed
productivity.
to ten
with the
and
would
be
this typing
to
overall
would have
With this in
subjects to
achievable
easily,
some
mind,
identify increases
text
processing
a
in
system
available at MIT.
5.3.1 The System
The system used was NSCRIPT, coupled with the TSO
Sharing Option) editor.
NSCRIPT system were
obtained, the
dataset.
The TSO
dataset, i.e. no
to the
Although the actual features of the
not used since no
text was
when
Text can
an
NSCRIPT
moving through
lines by means of the UP
The FIND command can also locate
the desired line by specifying
line.
an NSCRIPT
context editor similar
be located by
the document a specified number of
n, or the DOWN n commands.
it was
operating on
line numbers, is a
uniquely identify the
formatted output was
input as though
editor,
CMS EDITOR.
(Time
a character string that will
This command will
only search
91
follows
position, and
current
the
are specified.
the FIND command is
Usually
UP or
be moved
to
lines
command should
are used
DOWN commands
The
and it usually takes
FIND
uses more
exclusively since it
not be used
computer facilities (CPU)
number of
when the
easily determined.
be
can
used to locate
from the current position,
text which is relatively distant
and the
the system
additional FIND commands
beyond the first when
will not go
necessary to
string since
occurances of the
first
the
find
will
Some gymnastics are
string.
occurance of the
find subsequent
the text that
of the character string in
for the occurance
longer for
the system to respond and, in the case of the TSO editor, it
is
more prone to errors.
The three
INSERT
The
commands.
usually a
another delimiter,
string may
slash(/),
c
the
DELETE, and
consists
or change,
new string to
A null
the
of
followed
old character
new string.
and the
be used as the
the old string.
command
CHANGE
the operator,
specification of
delimiter,
the CHANGE,
basic commands are
by a
string,
character
effectivly delete
The normal command would appear as such:
c/old word/new word/
(carriage return)
If the verify mode is used, the new version of the line will
be displayed.
The DELETE command is
to be used to delete a whole line
-r
and would appear like:
(carriage return)
d
upon
which
positioned will be deleted.
currently
is
the pointer
which
at
the line
If the verify mode is used, the
previous line will be displayed.
text immediately
is used to insert
The INSERT command
following the current line.
typical example would look
The
like:
(carriage return)
in new text
If the VERIFY mode is used, the system will not respond with
anything at this point.
There
are
involved
are
but will
system,
the
manipulations in
various file
which
commands
other
with
not be
discussed here.
5.3.2 Subjects
An
attempt was
backgrounds
experience as
both
typists
in
typing
subjects.
and
experience
Since
non-typists
benefits in either case, the
people with
include
made to
as
well
the system
and
as
can be
provide
diverse
computer
used by
significant
subjects were recruited in two
93
or
considered,
was
group
first
The
groups.
separate
This characterization
considered themselves, to be typists.
usually referred to the capability to use both hands and not
Throughout both groups there
keys occassionally.
range
of
people who
very
computer knowledge
in IQ
Table 5.1 is
in intelligence.
knowledge, education,
were
their
summarizing
age, and
considered typists,
considered
non-typists.
assigned after
variation
in
and
the test, since
the
the subjects
most of
subject's
skill,
typing
sex.
Numbers
of the
was
some significant
of
assessment
5
were
10
indicator
skill
there was
computer
1 through
6 through
numbers
were
be above average
a brief description
The typing
to
not a
There was
people who seemed to
graduate students or
subjects,
since
exists a
analyst/programmers
computers before.
never used
broad range
from
to find
their eyes
had to use
people who
fairly dextrous
to
peck" method
and
the "hunt
of
from advocates
They
usually were right.
considered themselves as such and
ranged
The nontypists
in order to type.
look at the keys
have to
their
typing
ability.
5.3.3 The Test
The test was
divided into two parts,
obtain information on different aspects
first
part was
simply a timed test where
each designed to
of the system.
The
the subjects were
TABLE 5.1
DESCRIPTION OF SUBJECTS
SUBJECT
TYPING
SKILL
COMPUTER
KNOWLEDGE
1
2
0
0
+
+
3
4
+
+
-
5
AGE
SEX
HS
G
20-25
25-30
F
M
-
HS
HS
20-25
20-25
F
F
0
0
G
25-30
M
6
7
0
-
+
0
G
7th
20-25
10-15
M
M
8
9
10
0
-
G
G
G
25-30
25-30
25-30
M
M
M
EDUCATION
-
-
asked to type a paragraph, first with a typewriter, and then
with a terminal
which has the ability
as they are made, by backspacing
results
as
conducted
on the
and retyping.
as possible,
consistent
to correct mistakes,
the
with the
same machine,
two
To keep the
tests
were
terminal in
the
local mode for the typewriter tests and in the communication
the terminal
input mode so
system.
To
mode were
in the communication
time
to any
results could apply
that the
keep the
basically the
text processing system operating
same as any keyboard based
in the
The characteristics of
tests.
mode for the text processing
of
the test
reasonable,
the
non-typists were given a reasonably short paragraph to type,
of
about
fifty
words,
while the
typists
were
given
a
paragraph of about 150 words.
The subjects
were timed
on the
typewriter for
their
95
each mistake
paragraph and
warned that
thirty second
addition to their
When
however.
mistake,
simulate erasing.
the
on
typing
text
thirty second penalty would
terminal, the same
made a
typing whenever they
advised to continue
They were
time to
in a
would result
processing
be assessed
were encouraged to backspace
for mistakes, but the subjects
over mistakes and correct them when they were noticed.
could be attributable to
thirty second penalty
to
have
that would
operations
editing
This
the various
be made,
if
the
mistakes were to be corrected later with the text processing
This is
system.
exaggerated
a little
but would be reasonable
several corrections in one session,
the corrections
of
that
during the input phase, or
would be corrected by the editor
for
for mistakes
two
one or
mistakes
later
at a
editing session (Chapter 1).
The second part of the test was designed to obtain some
information on how easy it is to learn to use the editor and
how effective its use is
about
a
ten minute
operations of
Each subject was given
initially.
lecture
on
the TSO editor,
the three
basic
CHANGE, DELETE,
editing
and INSERT.
Also included were instructions on how to locate the desired
line
by means
commands.
they could
of
the
FIND command
or
the
UP and
DOWN
The use of the VERIFY mode was encouraged so that
have some confidence
changes that were made.
of the correctness
of the
After the lecture, during which the
operations were explained at least
twice, the subjects were
96
provided with a summary of the commands for reference during
the test.
The test was basically the same for each subject in the
type of
The
characters which
twenty per cent
made up
eighty per cent of the following
line.
string
a
deleting
of
consisted
change
first
exact changes.
if not the same
changes to be made
of
line and
of one
The next change was
for another, and the last
a simple substitution of one word
change was an insertion of a sentence somewhere in the text.
The
first change
deletion, and
one way,
an insertion),
or
last could be
either
string, a
and a
two (a substitution
The second change could
and the
accomplished by
a null character
(a substitution of
three steps
deletion).
been
could have
only be accomplished in
done in
one of
two ways,
neither of which was any better than the other.
Some
prompting
given during
was
this
test
if
the
subject was clearly baffled, or was needlessly waiting for a
system response, or
editing command.
took to
was not sure of the exact
format of an
The subjects were measured for the time it
successfully make
the changes.
If mistakes
were
made during the editing steps
they were expected to correct
them using the same methods.
After the first timed editing
test, the basic commands were reviewed, hints on how to more
easily accomplish the same changes
were
explained.
current edition of
Three
were given, and mistakes
similar changes
were
their text, and a second
made to
the
timed test was
or no prompting.
this time with little
given,
5.3.4 The Results
The results
ot the
Following subject 1,
timed tests
reduced
Since five
to 23
minute after
net rate is
adding the
penalty
terminal, the gross rate was
With the
However, five
33 words per minute and six errors were made.
of these were
The test
words per minute without error
errors were made, the
words per
seconds to the time.
this.
the results read like
on the typewriter yielded 39
corrections.
Table 5.2.
appear in
by backspacing and
corrected during the test
retyping, so that the net rate was 30 words per minute.
The
difference in net words per minute between the two tests was
cent increased with the terminal.
a 30 per
can be seen
It
that almost all of the subjects increase their net rates (58
per
cent
average)
with
the
terminal,
indicating
that
significant increases in typing productivity can result with
text processing systems.
One of the first phenomenon observable is the fact that
of the typists
almost all
minute
when
terminal.
they
There are
switched
words per
decreased their gross
from
the
typewriter
two opposing forces that
the raw speed of the typists during this switch.
to
the
would change
First, the
capability to fix mistakes easily would permit the typist to
type more rapidly, and second, the actual time consumed in
98
TABLE 5.2
RESULTS OF TIMED TEST FOR
TYPING AND TERMINAL INPUT
SUBJECT
TYPED
ERRORS
WPM
39
34
COR'D
WPM
23
12
36
18
19
60
57
26
21
11
7.7
2.9
6.9
32
10
8.1
32
10
TABLE
TER'L
WPM
33
22
52
48
27
24
8.6
7.8
37
11.5
ERRORS
(NET)
COR'D
WPM
(1)
(2)
(1)
(0)
(4)
30
19
45
48
20
(0)
(2)
(0)
(0)
24
7.2
7.8
(1)
10
CHANGE
CWPM %
30
58
25
167
5
37
5.3
STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF TIMED TESTS
SUBJECT
TYPED
WPM
ERRORS
COR'D
WPM
TER'L
WPM
21.6
36.4
5.8
ERRORS
(NET)
COR'D
WPM
CHANGE
CWPM %
8.4(1.6)
32.4
57
3.4(0.7)
7.6(1.5)
6.1
13.6
28.7
TYPISTS
MEAN
STD ERR
VAR
43.2
6.6
14.7
4.0
9.0
13.0
t
PROB
64.3
1.98
.940
> 0
NON-TYPISTS
MEAN
STD ERR
VAR
15.8
5.2
12.6
4.7
10.6
3.8
5.0
11.3
8.4
17.8
5.6
2.8(1.6)
12.5
3.1 (1.0)
1.4(0.5)
17.6
5.8
13.0
t
PROB
60.2
30.6
68.5
1.97
.939
> 0
TOTAL
MEAN
STD ERR
VAR
t
PROB >
29.5
5.8
18.4
17.1
3.4
27
5.6(1.1)
25.0
2.2
5.2
1,9(0.4)
4.7
6.9
10.7
16.6
6.0(1.3)
14.8
6.5
58.0
19.7
62.4
2.95
.992
99
identifying and backspacing over a mistake would add time to
The latter seems to be the stronger in this case,
the test.
to vary directly with the
since the decrease in speed seems
number of corrected mistakes.
On
other
the
increased
all
hand, almost
fewer mistakes and hence would
time
additional
mistakes.
correct
to
Since
keys as they typed, they
these people usually looked at the
tended to make
non-typists
the
they switched.
when
speed
their typing
of
not take any
plausible
A
explanation of the increase would come from the fact that it
was the second time that they had typed the relatively short
paragraph and a learning phenomenon occured.
The errors committed were about the same on average for
the
ability
but the
typists,
correct them
to
was
very
significant since about eighty per cent of the mistakes were
eliminated
during
correction ability
per minute for
most of his
the
This
session.
terminal
did not spot
all the typists except one who
mistakes.
number of mistakes
net words
increase in
accounted for an
In the case of
error
the non-typists, the
made were about the same
in both trials
except for one relatively spastic seventh grader who learned
something about key position by
about eighty per cent of the
terminal allowing
his second attempt.
Again,
mistakes were corrected at the
an increase in
net words per
minute for
this reason, in three of the five cases.
Table
5.3 is
a
statistical
summary of
the
results
100
error of the mean, and the
from a sample this
all
of
variance
categories
the
the speed
measurements since
different
in
the typewriter is on
average
words
the
the
increases
in
"are
due to chance?"
increase
assumed normal.
normal distribution
(small sample
be
assumes that
This
normally, but problems
are
can
increase in
seem
not
does
it
inferred
the speeds
the
much
are distributed
of this size
differs from
primarily for small degrees
sizes) and hence,
if
very
with
can arise when samples
The t-distribution
When
words per minute
the order of the
minute,
per
are significantly
of the average net
done on
confidence.
variance worse for
However,
productivity significant, or are they
one standard deviation
large.
quite
is
capabilities.
is
answered
be
would
As
small and diverse,
the groups
typing
their
to
productivity
presented for
column.
groups only makes the
Combining the two
question
minute
words per
net
increase in
probably be expected
the
variance, for all of the columns
In addition, t-statistics are
in Table 5.2.
the
are the mean, the standard
Included
reported in Table 5.2.
the
of freedom
is better suited
for this
application.
The null hypothesis in this case is that no increase in
productivity
will
result
in
the
processing systems vs. normal typing.
mean of the
to the
input
in fact zero.
of
text
This implies that the
change in net words per minute
other is
phase
The value
from one system
of "t"
in this
101
square root of the number
mean (the variance divided by the
the
cent chance that
With the
separately.
groups taken
climbs to
99.2 per cent.
concluded
that the
increases in
With
of a
added
credibility
greater than zero
the
implying
is rejected,
productivity will
to
can be
these two facts, it
null hypothesis
individual
input
in the
result
To
typing.
system over
text processing
phase
the two
combination of
that the mean is
groups, the probability
that
a 94 per
for the two
greater than zero
the mean is
the
From tables
total.
values imply that there is
these
of t-statistics,
for
d.f.)
(4
1.97
for the
(9 d.f.)
and 2.95
non-typists,
(4 d.f.) ,
1.98
is
typists
the value of "t" for
Using this procedure,
in the sample).
error of the
mean divided by the standard
situation is the
increases,
give
subject
number 1's increase of 30 per cent compares favorably to her
increase in productivity
hour to four
from three pages per
pages per hour in the production of this thesis.
The results of the editing test appear in Table 5.4 and
the statistics are summarized in
was to
this test
someone
use
to
processing system,
system initially.
some
idea of
There have
of how easy
get an idea
the
basic
Table 5.5.
editing
and how effective
The purpose of
to teach
it is
commands
of
they can be
a
text
with the
Two tests were run on each subject to get
how the
been some
learning
curve proceeds
initially.
by firms
indicating
tests conducted
that terminal operators reach the 50 per cent performance
102
RESULTS
SUBJECT
TIME 1
(SEC)
TABLE 5.4
OF EDITING TESTS
TIME 2
(SEC)
CHANGE
(S EC)
CHANGE
1
2
3
4
5
378
329
379
309
215
179
220
267
265
162
199
109
112
6
7
8
9
10
118
302
471
598
392
65
53
45
*
*
*
270
371
213
201
227
179
44
53
42
39
46
TABLE 5.5
STATISTICAL
TIME
(SEC)
SUMMARY OF EDITING TESTS
TIME 2
(SEC)
CHANGE
(S EC)
CHANGE
TYPISTS
MEAN
STD ERR
VAR
322
30
67
219
21
48
103
28
62
32.2
6.2
13.9
376
81
181
230
64
128
165
40
79
43.0
1.6
3.2
349
42
131
224
28
85
131
24
72
37.0
3.8
11.4
NON-TYPISTS
MEAN
STD ERR
VAR
TOTAL
MEAN
STD ERR
VAR
103
average after
service.
two months
They
75 per
reach the
cent performance averave after four months, and attain an 80
per cent figure
at the end of six months
This would
(10).
seem to indicate that some penalties must be paid during the
startup period.
be
quite
shows that a person can
However, this test
initially,
effective
his/her
increase
and
performance by 37 per cent after the first trial.
The time it took for each of the subjects to accomplish
changes is recorded in
the three
Table 5.4.
The changes in the
time can
by the
be explained
but
was
every change.
more
This not
show, but
the second
trial
was about
typists and about forty per
the decrease in
significantly
It
generally
took
this is probably
due as
anything else.
The
to make the three changes
thirty
per
cent for
cent for the non-typists.
from
the
the typists as
time and the per cent decrease
different
to type,
only took longer
in typing speed as
average decrease in time required
of
the subject's refusal
make the changes than
on Table 5.5
much to differences
used
the subject
than the c/..../.../, with which
to errors.
prone
non-typists longer to
the means
fact that
can be explained by
to learn any other command
he made
the lowest
seconds, and
conjunction with programming work.
system editors before in
The longest time
second trial were similar in
about 3-400
Most took
columns of
first trial, but were not exactly
nature to the ones in the
the same.
the first two
zero
by
the
Both
in time are
t-statistics.
104
when
quite rapidly
proceeds
learning actually
Therefore,
learning this system initially.
the text
in length,
117 words
break-even length decreases
60
rate,
minute
per
words
can be as
accomplished
these three
This would imply
in a
per cent changes
much as sixty
The
combined with a
an
simulating
mistakes is 65 words, or about five lines.
that there
rookies.
even length for correcting
operator, the break
than
second trial, and
to 79 in the
experienced operator's time is
if the most
would be
document
a
to
the terminal operators are
retyping, even if
longer than
processing method
make corrections
to
efficient
combined
the typist group,
for any document
can be inferred that
then it
corrections is
typing speeds (net) for
with the average
more
to make
average time
If the
document (number of corrections divided by the number lines)
before retyping is the more
attractive alternative once the
system is fully implemented.
Thus,
it has
been shown
will occur
due to
the ability
input,
and the
capability
The
potentially
revisions
of
retyping.
All
to correct
errors as
they
input, but not all systems
ease.
to correct
to make
ability
instead
document
that productivity
greatest
occur
increases
mistakes during
to
systems
part of
have
are spotted
a
the
during
allow editing changes with equal
increases
because
of
capability, but these features are
in
the
productivity
system's
the most costly.
would
editing
It has
105
shown that
also been
revisions are to
be made does not
the editing
justify
the document
the length of
have to be very
As
capabilities.
the
to which
long to
length of
the
document increases, the benefits of the editing capabilities
increase in
average user
day, and
These
proportion.
It
can become quite
would be
has also
productive within
most efficient
productivity increases
after about
can be
completely justify the text processing
of labor saved.
been shown
that the
the first
six months.
sufficiently high
to
system by the amount
106
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSIONS
application
the
is
processing
Text
computer
of
In the
technology to the production of textual information.
primarily for numerical work
past, computers have been used
exclusively, but as costs of
while labor
down
computers and electronics come
continue to
costs
there is
rise,
more
incentive for the use of text processing.
There are many text processing systems available and in
use
today.
They
letter generators to
are the
vehicles for new and
At the
dissemination.
in information
automatic
capacity from
in
range
innovative ideas
the scale
bottom of
which have
automatic typewriters
form
relatively small
memory capacities which in turn limit the size or complexity
limited
in
editing and
their
provide for only
for
produced easily.
which can be
of documents
minor changes.
storage
permanent
can be
formatting
They
features
which
storage media
Using their
relatively
are also
expensive
when
compared to magnetic tape on large computer systems, but the
cost differential would probably not justify the acquisition
of
computer.
a
With some
efforts have been made to
of
the
systems,
substantial
make these typewriters completely
conversant with computers so that, in effect, they can serve
as I/O devices for that computer in
In
the
middle
range of
text processing work.
capabilities
are
the
many
107
computer
services,
actually
and multipurpose
extensive
hardcopy,
computer
in capabilities,
and
thereby
is
which
storage,
formatting
inexpensive means
also
less
as
saving
storage
space
use
a great
variety
systems can
but
large memories,
complete
tape provides an
Magnetic
permanent
for
range
capabilities,
editing
capabilities.
This middle
have, or can have
minimally, these systems
range
computers.
a wide
covers quite
sharing
time
minis,
including
systems,
based
than
bulky
well.
Most
of inputs
and
character recognition input to
outputs ranging from optical
photo composition output adding to their flexibility.
Integrated
of
range
capabilities
with today's
current
limited
in their
systems
consist of
context editor,
systems are
text processing
technology,
(3) document
management
retrieval,
and
are
these
Minimally,
applications.
(1) a data
upper
in the
system, (2)
a
(4) a generalized
text description language, and (5) a fully modular approach
in
This
implementation.
system
type of
has
been
only
approximated by a few firms to date, but it potentially is a
system which will
allow many new and
innovative methods of
providing information in the future.
Most of the present day uses of text processing systems
are
merely the
chores of
text
an office.
processing
federal
automation of
more repetitive
some engineering
However,
extensively
regulatory
the
in
agencies,
their
and
typing
firms use
documentation
production
for
of
108
parameters to a
deal
benefits
to
cutting and
extensive
efforts than
time
the
blocks of
of
do a
saved
by
prime
the
expensive
work than
more productive
them for
pasting.
are also produced
more
is
freeing
one
typing loads,
relieve
realized
professionals,
some key
these applications
While
draft.
the
cases,
program which logically combines
the first
text for
some
In
merely supplying
be written by
specification can
great
contracts.
and
specifications
Manuals, especially
program manuals,
by programmers on line.
This results in
documentation
of
programming
conventional means.
Where text
and precise
existed with
processing terminals are plentiful, some companies have used
the facilities to
transmit documents to other
divisions or
companies for faster and more reliable service than the mail
provides.
provide sensitive,
their
situations,
In other
ability to
processing
but useful
access a
are
systems
they
have been
information to
file with
also
used
employees by
the terminal.
used
for
distribution on the ARPA computer network.
to
Text
information
These are just a
few of the potential uses of text processing systems.
The justification that the different companies give for
using
merely
text processing
justify
the
varies as
full
cost
stenographic labor
actually saved,
incremental
costs
of
Others view
the system
the system
much as
of
the
system
and others
by
as providing
the
Some
the uses.
by
the
justify the
labor
benefits that
savings.
cannot
109
otherwise be
morale
had.
booster,
repetitive jobs
It
can also
since
simply as
be justified
it eliminates
much
of
faced by both professionals
the
a
dull,
and clericals.
The method of justification usually has something to do with
the organization
of the system.
If
it is merely
saving which is being sought, then
a dollar
there is a motivation to
centralize the facilities and tightly control the efficiency
of
its
operation.
booster,
If
then the
the
system
primary
is
goal would
used as
be
system's services to
anyone who wished to
have
of these
been
examples
and
a
morale
to provide
use them.
combinations
of
the
There
these
justifications in many of the examples investigated.
Whatever the
is that
justification, one fact that
text processing will
anyone connected
increase the
with the production
seems clear
productivity of
of a
document.
This
increase in authors' productivity will result from less time
spent proofreading, less time spent cutting and pasting, and
with advanced systems,
hard to put
less time spent researching.
a performance increase figure
since it
is very
typists'
increase
situation dependent.
in
productivity
straightforward since most typing is
Several
sources
productivity
However,
from
the literature
ranging from
these figures
system, including the
50 per
include the
It is
on this element,
However, measuring
is
a
little
more
more or less the same.
quote
cent to
effects
increases
in
1000 per
cent.
of the
whole
benefits derived from the
ability to
110
document from a previous edition
copy a large amount of one
This phenomenon is also situation dependent, so a test
etc.
was
devised
in
increases
determine
to
typing
varying abilities,
minute was 58
of
to
With
efficiency.
ten
to
subjects
of
net words
per
was a result
Most of the increase
easily correct
solely
due
increase in
the average
per cent.
the ability
increases
the
and type
mistakes,
at
"draft speed" since there was no fear of making errors.
Some attempt was also made to determine how effective a
person
can
systems,
processing
showed
be in
that
average,
after
it
would
corrections to
retype it.
exploiting
the
ten
be
capability.
This
test
of
instruction,
on
faster
to
make
three
typical
or greater
than to
117 words
the
Extrapolating to a proficient terminal operator,
65 words.
than this,
Since most documents
it
significant increases in productivity
systems.
text
minutes
documents of
considerably longer
initially,
of
main benefits
editing
this cutoff length is about
are
the
from the
editing
features
would follow
that
can be realized, even
of text
processing
111
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Atomic Energy Commission, "A Study of 4 Methods of
Entering Text into Computers." Oak Ridge Nuclear Laboratory report, ORNL TM 3600, Nov. 1, 1971.
2. Auerbach Time Sharing Reports.
40.180, Aug 1969.
3. "An Introduction to Documate."
1973.
Index Systems Inc.,
4. "Documate--An Abridged Functional Description."
Systems Inc., 1973.
5. Gildenburg, Robert F.
Jan. 1973.
"Word Processing."
Index
Modern Data,
6. Gilford, Michael. "Second Generation Computer SpecifiProgressive Architecture, May 1972.
cations."
7. Goldfarb, Charles J.; Mosher, Edward J.; and Peterson,
Theodore I. "Integrated Text Processing for Publishing
IBM Cambridge Scientific
and Information Retrieval."
Center Report, form number G320 2065, April 1971.
8. Kleinschood, Walter A. "The 'Gal Friday' is a Typing
Administrative Management, 1971.
Specialist Now."
Form numbers
9. "Magnetic tape Selectric Typewriters."
543-0506-1, G543-0507-3, IBM Corp., New York.
10.
Mauro, Anthony. "Get Your Secretary Away from the
Office Equipment and Methods, Aug. 1971.
Typewriter."
11.
AP-55 rev. 1; MIT Information
"NSCRIPT User's Guide."
Processing Center, Dec. 14, 1972.
12.
Forms RMS-7203-10RI,
"Redactor Editing Typewriters."
Redactron Corporation.
RMS-7108-9, and RMS7112-lRI,
13. Rosen, Harold J. "Computer Specification Programs."
Progressive Architecture, Sept. 1971.
IBM Cambridge Scientific Center
14. "SCRIPT User's Manual."
Cambridge, Mass., 1969.
2053,
Report, Form No.320
15. "SCRIPT/370 Program Description/Operations Manual."
Form No. sh20-1114-0, IBM Corp., New York., 1973.
IBM
16. "Stone & Webster Administrative Terminal System User's
Stone & Webster Inc., Boston, Mass., 1971.
Manual."
112
17.
Sussman, Joseph M.; Lodcher, Robert D.; and Howard C.
Stotland. "SPECS--A Specification Production Computer
Journal of the Structural Division ProSystem."
ceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers,
Jan. 1971.
Appli18. "System 360 Administrative Terminal System."
cations Description Manual GH20-0297-3; Terminals
Operations Manual GH20-0589-2; Terminal Operator's Quick
Reference Guide G320-0956-2., IBM Corp., New York.
19.
van Dam, Andries; and Rice, David E. "On line Text
Computing Surveys Vol. 3 No. 3,
a Survey."
Editing:
Sept. 1971.
20.
van Dam, Andries.
for the Layman."
1972.
21.
van Dam, Andries.
Text Systems Inc.,
"Fress--Concepts and Facilities
Text Systems Inc., Barrington,
R.I.,
"Fress User's Guide--Part A & B."
Barrington, R.I., 1972.
22. van Dam, Andries, Elliot, W.D., Potas, W.A. "Computer
Assisted Tracing of Text Evolution." Fall Joint Computer
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23.
Forms 700 0493A
"Wang System 1200 Cassette Typewriter."
11-72-50M; 700 0835-11-72-20M; 700 0493-6-72-50M.
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"Computer, Take a Letter."
24. White, Donald.
Evening Globe, Feb. 14, 1973.
Boston
113
APPENDIX 1
AUTOMATIC WORD PROCESSING TYPEWRITERS
COMPANY/
MODEL
STORAGE
MEDIA
EDITING & OTHER FEATURES
American
Automatic
Typewriter
player-type
paper tape
roll
manual typing of inside address &
salutation; right margin control
as option; typewriter input/
output
Auto-typist
dual cassette
CPT
Corporation with 200character line
buffer
CPT 4200
IBM Office
Products
Division
MC/ST
MT/ST
char & line erase; auto right
margin adjust; tape-to tape dup;
forward & reverse search; word,
line, paragraph & page control;
Selectric I/O
magnetic card
char & line erase; card track
select; CPU/communications
interfaces; Selectric input/
output
single or dual
cartridge
char & line erase; auto right
margin adjust; tape-to-tape dup;
forward & reverse search; auto
line expand; Selectric &
composer I/O
single casLexitron
Corporation sette with
7000-chdr CRT
Videotype-1 & line printer
buffers
intelligent CRT display terminal
for input & text edit; char &
line erase; auto right margin
adjust; word, line, paragraph &
page control typewriter or
printer output
----------------------------------
player&type
MetroTel
Corporation paper tape
roll
Mate Series
single casModel 801
sette
roll-controlled auto type unit
with converter interface for user
supplied typewriter
manual type of corrections & revisions after initial typing;
Royal 970 typewriter input/output
114
Novar/GTE
dual tape loop char & line erase; tape-to-tape
cartridge with dup; CPU/communications interfaces; Selectric typewriter in
line butter
put/output
-
QuinData
QuinType
Model 70
QuinType
Model 80
Remington
Rand/Office
Machines &
Redactron
Corporation
MC100/200
MT100/200
-------
single or
dual cassette
char & line erase; auto margin
adjust; tape-to-tape dup; CPU/
communications interfaces;
Selectric I/O
char & line erase; auto margin
adjust; tape-to tape dup; forward/reverse search; word, line,
paragraph, & page control; CPU/
communications interfaces;
Selectric input/output
single or
dual magnetic
card
char & line erase; card track
select; card-to-card dup; word,
line, paragraph, & page control;
Selectric I/O
single or
dual cassette
char & line erase; tape-to-tape
dup; word, line, paragraph, page
control; Selectric typewriter
input/output
dual paper
tape
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -
Ricoh of
America
---- --
dual paper
tape
-
----- -
char, word & line stop/ skip;
right margin control; tab memory;
Selectric typewriter input/output
Model 6000
single casSavin
sette
Business
Machines
Word Master
Singer
Business
Machines
Flexowriter
cassette-transport & controller
with interface for user-supplied
typewriters
plug-board programmable control;
dual paper
tape with tab auto address, word, line &
card reader as paragraph insert; typewriter I/O
option
115
SYS
Computer
Editerm
Terminal
Equipment
single or
dual cassette
with internal
memory
intelligent CRT display terminal
for input & text edit; char &
line erase; margin adjust; word,
lineparagraph & page control;
Selectric output
paper tape
auto margin control, line
expand, edit, read, skip & tab
controls; selectric typewriter
input/output
single or
dual cassette
auto locate, correct, delete &
insert of char, words, lines or
paragraphs; auto merge; auto
margin adjust; auto message
search; Selectric input/output
single or
dual cassette
auto word-in-line, line,
paragraph & page search; auto
head centering; auto right
margin justify; auto decimal
point align; Selectric 1/0; CPU &
communications interfacing
5000 character internal
memory cassette
auto search; auto char, word,line
or paragraph select, skip or de
lete; right margin adjust;
Selectric 1/0
cartridge
auto search on code to 500 address locations for insert/delete
operations; char correct/erase;
word, line or paragraph skip;
Selectric 1/0
Edityper
Ty-data
Tnc.
Series 3600
Wang
Laboratories
System 1200
Word
Processing
Inc.
Scribona
100
Scribona
500
116
APPENDIX 2
MINICOMPUTER WORD PROCESSING
AND FORMATTING SYSTEMS(5)
COMPANY/
MODEL
STORAGE
MEDIA
APPLICATIONS & FEATURES
Inputs:
Datatype
Corporation document-to-
document-to-6-level paper tape
editing & converter system;
OCR terminal
Outputs:
paper tape
uses standard Selectric with
OCR font to type input document
Inputs:
document-toOCR terminal
Outputs:
paper tape
document-to-6-level paper tape
editing & converter system;
uses Courier-12 font typewriter
to prepare input document
Setype
ECRM
Inc.
Autoreader
EditEdit
Systems
TextEd
- - - - --
Inputs:
multiple typewriter terminal
Outputs:
hardcopy, cassette, mag &
- -- -
-
time-shared text editing,
typing & formatting system;
typewritten & line printer
produced hardcopy; 9-track
mag & 6/8-level paper tape out
put; cassette document storage
paper tape
Graphic
Systems
System 1
Hendrix
Inputs: auto
text-editing photocomposer systypewriter pro- tem using the Redactron word
duced cassettes processing typewriter
Outputs:
photocomp
Inputs: multi-
stand-alone & time-shared text
Electronics ple CRT display editing, printing & formatting
Text
Publishing
System
terminals
Outputs: hardcopy, mag &
paper tape
systems; line printer hardcopy;
OCR input option; auto hyphenation, classified ads &
business packages
117
stand-alone text edit & formatInputs: CRT
Imlac
ting system; 6-level paper &
Corporation terminal
Outputs: paper 7/9-track magnetic tape output
Composer 15 & magnetic tape
Index
Systems
Documate
Inputs: multiple typwriter
terminal
Outputs: hardcopy, mag &
paper tape
time-shared text editing,
typing & formatting system;
typuritten & line printer
produced hardcopy; extensive
file management capabilities;
removable disk storage
Information Inputs: multiple CRT &
Control
Selectric
Systems
terminals
Outputs: hardAstrocomp
copy MTST, mag
& paper tapes
time-shared text editing,
typing & formatting system;
typewritten & line printer produced hardcopy; 6/7/8-level
paper, 9-track mag and MTST
cartridge tape output; auto
hyphenation/justification
package
Inputs: multiLCS
Corporation ple CRT &
Selectric terminals
CompuText
Outputs: hard
copy
time-shared text editing &
typing system; Selectric typed &
line printer produced hardcopy;
multi-task, disk file system
Inputs: CRT
terminal
Outputs: hardcopy
text editing, typing & business
processor terminal; serial
"daisy" element printer produced
hardcopy
MGA
Computer
952
------------------------
Omnitext
Inc.
Omnitext
Inputs: CRT
terminal
Outputs: paper
tape
text editing & formatting system; 6/8-level paper tape output
118
text editing, typing & formatting system; line printer hard
SYS
Inputs: CRT
terminal
DataVerter
outputs: hard- copy; mag tape output
copy & magnetic
tape
Tal-Star
Inputs: CRT &
Computer
Systems
document-to-OCR tem; justification & classfied
ads packages; paper tape output
terminal
Outputs: paper
tape
Computer
T1000
Varian
Data
Machines
Varitext
Inputs: multiple Selectric
typewriters
Outputs: hardcopycassette
& mag tape
text editing & formatting sys-
time-shared text editing &
typing system; Selectric typed &
line printer produced hardcopy;
cassette document storage; mag
tape output