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MFS: a modular text formatting system

Published: 07 June 1982 Publication History

Abstract

This paper presents the design goals and architecture of the Modular Formatting System, currently being developed at West Virginia University. MFS applies to formatters the principles of separation of function used in many successful program systems. A small central kernel forms the basis for a family of formatting systems, tailored to specific applications and environments.
MFS is intended to support a wide spectrum of applications drawn from the experience of commercial composition, word processing, and research systems. It does not rely on any specialized terminal or input source characteristics. Output devices from line printers through high resolution typesetters are handled in a uniform manner. Users can exercise detailed control over document appearance, or work exclusively with styles predefined through macros.

References

[1]
Saltzer, J. E. "Runoff." In P. A. Crisman (ed.), The Compatible Time-Sharing System. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1965.
[2]
Pierson, J. Computer Composition using PAGE-1. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1972.
[3]
Ossanna, J. F. NROFF/TROFF User's Manual. Comp. Sci. Tech. Rep. No. 54, Bell Laboratories, 1977.
[4]
Knuth, D. E. TEX and METAFONT: New Directions in Typesetting. Bedford, Massachusetts: Digital Press, 1979.
[5]
Reid, B. K., and J. H. Walker. SCRIBE Introductory User Manual. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: UNILOGIC, 1980.
[6]
Kernighan, B. "PIC---a Language for Typesetting Graphics." ACM SIGPLAN Notices, 16 (1981), pp. 92--98.
[7]
Goldfarb, C. F. "A Generalized Approach to Document Markup." A CM SIGPLAN Notices, 16 (1981), pp. 68--73.

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cover image ACM Other conferences
AFIPS '82: Proceedings of the June 7-10, 1982, national computer conference
June 1982
857 pages
ISBN:088283035X
DOI:10.1145/1500774
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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  • AFIPS: American Federation of Information Processing Societies

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 07 June 1982

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