TYPSET is an early
document editor that was used with the 1964-released RUNOFF program, one of the earliest
text formatting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random H ...
programs to see significant use.
Of two earlier print/formatting programs DITTO and
TJ-2
TJ-2 (Type Justifying Program) was published by Peter Samson in May 1963 and is thought to be the first page layout program. Although it lacks page numbering, page headers and footers, TJ-2 is the first word processor to provide a number of essen ...
, only the latter had, and introduced,
text justification; RUNOFF also added
pagination
Pagination, also known as paging, is the process of dividing a document into discrete pages, either electronic pages or printed pages.
In reference to books produced without a computer, pagination can mean the consecutive page numbering to ind ...
.
The name RUNOFF, and similar names led to other formatting program implementations. By 1982 ''Runoff'' largely became associated with Digital Equipment Corporation and Unix computers. DEC used the terms ''VAX DSR'' and ''DSR'' to refer to ''VAX DIGITAL Standard Runoff''.
History
CTSS
The original RUNOFF
type-setting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing ''characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random Ho ...
program for
CTSS was written by
Jerome H. Saltzer circa 1964.
Bob Morris and
Doug McIlroy
Malcolm Douglas McIlroy (born 1932) is a mathematician, engineer, and programmer. As of 2019 he is an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College.
McIlroy is best known for having originally proposed Unix pipelines and developed s ...
translated that from
MAD to
BCPL. Morris and McIlroy then moved the BCPL version to
Multics
Multics ("Multiplexed Information and Computing Service") is an influential early time-sharing operating system based on the concept of a single-level memory.Dennis M. Ritchie, "The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System", Communications of ...
when the
IBM 7094 on which CTSS ran was being shut down.
Multics
Documentation for the
Multics
Multics ("Multiplexed Information and Computing Service") is an influential early time-sharing operating system based on the concept of a single-level memory.Dennis M. Ritchie, "The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System", Communications of ...
version of RUNOFF described it as "types out text segments in manuscript form."
Other versions and implementations
A later version of runoff for Multics was written in
PL/I
PL/I (Programming Language One, pronounced and sometimes written PL/1) is a procedural, imperative computer programming language developed and published by IBM. It is designed for scientific, engineering, business and system programming. I ...
by Dennis Capps, in 1974. This runoff code was the ancestor of
''roff'' that was written for the fledgling
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
in
assembly language by
Ken Thompson
Kenneth Lane Thompson (born February 4, 1943) is an American pioneer of computer science. Thompson worked at Bell Labs for most of his career where he designed and implemented the original Unix operating system. He also invented the B programmi ...
.
Other versions of Runoff were developed for various computer systems including
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president un ...
's
PDP-11 minicomputer systems running
RT-11
RT-11 (Real-time 11) is a discontinued small, low-end, single-user real-time operating system for the full line of Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11 16-bit computers. RT-11 was first implemented in 1970. It was widely used for real-time computin ...
,
RSTS/E
RSTS () is a multi-user time-sharing operating system developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC, now part of Hewlett-Packard) for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers. The first version of RSTS (RSTS-11, Version 1) was implemented in 1 ...
,
RSX on Digital's
PDP-10
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family manufactured beginning in 1966 and discontinued in 1983. 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, espec ...
and for
OpenVMS on
VAX
VAX (an acronym for Virtual Address eXtension) is a series of computers featuring a 32-bit instruction set architecture (ISA) and virtual memory that was developed and sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the late 20th century. The V ...
minicomputers, as well as
UNIVAC Series 90
The Univac 90/60 system front panel
The Univac Series 90 is an obsolete family of mainframe class computer systems from UNIVAC first introduced in 1973. The low end family members included the 90/25, 90/30 and 90/40 that ran the OS/3 operating s ...
mainframes using the
EDT text editor under the
VS/9
VS/9 is a computer operating system for the UNIVAC Series 90 mainframes (90/60, 90/70, and 90/80), used during the late 1960s through 1980s. The 90/60 and 90/70 were repackaged Univac 9700 computers. After the RCA acquisition by Sperry, it ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...
. These different releases of Runoff typically had little in common except the convention of indicating a command to Runoff by beginning the line with a period.
The origin of IBM's
SCRIPT (markup)
SCRIPT,Stuart E. Madnick and Allen G. Moulton (1968) IEEE Transactions on Engineering Writing and Speech, Vol. EWS-11, No. 2, pp. 92-100. any of a series of text markup languages starting with Script under Control Program-67/Cambridge Monitor Sy ...
software began in 1968 when "IBM contracted Stuart Madnick of MIT to write a simple document preparation ..." to run on
CP/67. He modeled it on
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
's
CTSS RUNOFF.
Background
RUNOFF was written in 1964 for the
CTSS operating system by
Jerome H. Saltzer in
MAD and
FAP.
It actually consisted of a pair of programs, TYPSET (which was basically a document editor), and RUNOFF (the output processor). RUNOFF had support for
pagination
Pagination, also known as paging, is the process of dividing a document into discrete pages, either electronic pages or printed pages.
In reference to books produced without a computer, pagination can mean the consecutive page numbering to ind ...
and headers, as well as text
justification (
TJ-2
TJ-2 (Type Justifying Program) was published by Peter Samson in May 1963 and is thought to be the first page layout program. Although it lacks page numbering, page headers and footers, TJ-2 is the first word processor to provide a number of essen ...
appears to have been the earliest
text justification system, but it did not have the other capabilities).
RUNOFF is a direct predecessor of the runoff document formatting program of
Multics
Multics ("Multiplexed Information and Computing Service") is an influential early time-sharing operating system based on the concept of a single-level memory.Dennis M. Ritchie, "The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System", Communications of ...
, which in turn was the ancestor of the
roff and
nroff
nroff (short for "new roff") is a text-formatting computer program, program on Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It produces output suitable for simple fixed-width computer printer, printers and computer terminal, terminal windows. It is an ...
document formatting programs of
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
, and their descendants. It was also the ancestor of FORMAT for the
IBM System/360, and of course indirectly of every computerized
word processing
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...
system.
Likewise, RUNOFF for CTSS was the predecessor of the various RUNOFFs for
DEC's operating systems, via the RUNOFF developed by the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
's
Project Genie
Project Genie was a computer research project started in 1964 at the University of California, Berkeley.
It produced an early time-sharing system including the Berkeley Timesharing System, which was then commercialized as the SDS 940.
History
P ...
for the
SDS 940 system.
The name is alleged to have come from the phrase at the time, ''I'll run off a copy''.
TYPESET contains features inspired by a variety of other programs including
Colossal Typewriter
Colossal Typewriter by John McCarthy and Roland Silver was one of the earliest computer text editors. The program ran on the PDP-1 at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) by December 1960.Eric Fischer (17 May 1999)CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion Li ...
and
Expensive Typewriter
Expensive Typewriter was a pioneering text editor program that ran on the DEC PDP-1 computer which had been delivered to MIT in the early 1960s.
Description
Since the program could drive an IBM Selectric typewriter (a letter-quality printer), i ...
.
Example
Input:
When you're ready to order,
call us at our toll free number:
.BR
.CENTER
1-800-555-xxxx
.BR
Your order will be processed
within two working days and shipped
Output:
When you're ready to order, call us at our toll free number:
1-800-555-xxxx
Your order will be processed within two working days and shipped
See also
*
SCRIPT (markup)
SCRIPT,Stuart E. Madnick and Allen G. Moulton (1968) IEEE Transactions on Engineering Writing and Speech, Vol. EWS-11, No. 2, pp. 92-100. any of a series of text markup languages starting with Script under Control Program-67/Cambridge Monitor Sy ...
*
TECO
*
TJ-2
TJ-2 (Type Justifying Program) was published by Peter Samson in May 1963 and is thought to be the first page layout program. Although it lacks page numbering, page headers and footers, TJ-2 is the first word processor to provide a number of essen ...
References
References
*Jerome H. Saltzer
''TYPSET and RUNOFF: Memorandum editor and type-out commands''(
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
Computation Center CC-244,
Project MAC
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is a research institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) formed by the 2003 merger of the Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) and the Artificial Intelligence Lab ...
MAC-M-193, Cambridge, 1964)
*Jerome H. Saltzer
''Manuscript typing and editing: TYPSET, RUNOFF''(Section AH.9.01, CTSS Programmer's Guide, Project MAC, Cambridge, 1966)
*Jerome H. Saltzer
(Programming Staff Note 40, Project MAC, Cambridge, 1965)
External links
Word processors
Troff
History of software
Digital typography
{{digital-typography-stub