Date of Award
6-1987
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Computer Science
First Advisor
Dr. Iyad Natour
Second Advisor
Dr. Robert Trenary
Third Advisor
Dr. Ben Pinkowski
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
Text, as seen in books and magazines, can take on three forms: string, graphic (two-dimensional), and image (digitized pictures). Text formatting processes text into a representation suitable for printing. Since a printer is really a computer, this representation is machine code for the printer. ASCII is one such code.
Six historically significant text formatting languages are surveyed: Runoff, Troff, TeX, Bravo, Scribe, and Postscript. The emphasis is on the text types available and the code generated. The main evolutionary forces are the changes in printers. Comparisons are made with programming languages.
Each of the six languages has ASCII as its basis, even though ASCII was originally meant for string text processing. With the electronic text fast approaching, the reliance upon ASCII will need to change in the future.
Recommended Citation
Herr-Hoyman, Dirk, "The Evolution of Text Formatting Languages" (1987). Masters Theses. 1211.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1211