Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

516 word processingto promote networking among minority professionals, linkapplicants to job openings, and encourage professionaldevelopment.Further ReadingACM Committee on Women in Computing. Available online. URL:http://women.acm.org/. Accessed December 4, 2007.ADA Project. Available online. URL: http://women.cs.cmu.edu/ada/. Accessed December 4, 2007.Association for Women in Computing. Available online. URL:http://www.awc-hq.org/. Accessed December 4, 2007.Black Data Processing Associates. Available online. URL: http://www.bdpa.org. Accessed December 4, 2007.Dean, Cornelia. “Computer Science Takes Steps to Bring Womento the Fold.” New York Times, April 17, 2007. Available online.URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/science/17comp.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. Accessed December 4, 2007.Margolis, Jane, and Allan Fisher. Unlocking the Clubhouse. Cambridge,Mass.: MIT Press, 2001.National Center for Women and Information Technology. Availableonline. URL: http://www.ncwit.org/. Accessed December4, 2007.National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science.Available online. URL: http://www.iwitts.com/. AccessedDecember 4, 2007.Pinkett, Randal D. “Strategies for Motivating Minorities to EngageComputers.” Carnegie Mellon University. Available online.URL: ttp://llk.media.mit.edu/papers/cmu1999.pdf. AccessedDecember 4, 2007.Yount, Lisa. A-Z of Women in Science and Math. Rev. ed. New York:Facts On File, 2007.word processingAlthough computers are most often associated with numbersand calculation, creating text documents is probablythe most ubiquitous application for desktop PCs.The term word processor was actually coined by IBMin the 1960s to refer to a system consisting of a Selectrictypewriter with magnetic tape storage. This allowed thetypist to record keystrokes (and some data such as marginsettings) on tape. Material could be corrected by being rerecorded.The tape could then be used to print as manyperfect copies of the document as required. A version usingmagnetic cards instead of tape appeared in 1969.The first modern-style word processor was marketed byLexitron and Linolex. It also used magnetic tape, but itadded a video display screen. Now the writer could seeand correct text without having to print it first. A few yearslater, a new invention, the floppy disk, became the standardstorage medium for dedicated word processing systems.The word-processing systems developed by Wang,Digital Equipment Corporation, Data General, and othersbecame a feature in large offices in the late 1970s. Thesesystems were essentially minicomputers with screens, keyboards,and printers and running a specialized softwareprogram. Because these systems were expensive (rangingfrom about $8,000 to $20,000 or more), they were notaffordable by smaller businesses. Typically, they were operatedby specially trained personnel (who became knownalso as “word processors”) to whom documents were funneledfor processing, as with the old “typing pool.”PC Word ProcessingThe first microcomputer systems had very limited memoryand storage capacity. However, by the late 1970s varioussystems using the S-100 bus and running CP/M had wordprocessingprograms, as did the Apple II and other firstgenerationPCs. However, it took the entry of the IBM PCinto the market in 1981 to make the PC a word-processingalternative for mainstream businesses. The machine hadmore memory and storage than earlier machines, and theIBM name provided reassurance to business.A number of word-processing programs were written forthe IBM PC running MS-DOS, but the market leaders wereWordStar and WordPerfect. Both programs offered basictext editing and formatting, including the ability to embedcommands to mark text for boldface, italic, and so on. Theprograms came with drivers for the more popular printers.In 1984, the Macintosh offered a new face for word processingand other applications. Using bitmapped fonts, theMac could show a good representation of the fonts and typestylesthat would be in the printed document. This “whatyou see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) approach, togetherwith the graphical user interface with mouse-driven menusmeant that users did not have to learn the often obscurecommand key sequences used in WordStar or WordPerfect.Microsoft then developed Windows as a graphical userinterface alternative to MS-DOS for IBM-compatible PCs.By 1990, Windows was rapidly replacing DOS as the operatingsystem of choice, and Microsoft Word was winning thebattle against WordPerfect, whose Windows version wasrather flawed at first.In addition to being able to visually show fonts andformatting, Word and other modern word processors arepacked with features. Some typical features today include:• different views of the document, including an outlineshowing headings down to a user-specified level• automatic table of contents and index generation• tables and multicolumn text• automatic formatting of bulleted and numbered lists• built-in and user-defined styles for headings, paragraphs,and so on.• the ability to use built-in or user-defined templatesto provide starting settings for new documents (seetemplate)• the ability to record or otherwise specify a seriesof commands to be performed automatically (seemacro)• spelling and grammar checkers• the ability to incorporate a variety of graphics imageformats in the document• automatic formatting and linking of Web hyperlinkswithin documents• the ability to import and export documents in a varietyof formats, including Web documents (see html)