TYPSET and RUNOFF

TYPSET and RUNOFF
Original author(s)Jerome H. Saltzer
Initial release1964; 60 years ago (1964)
Written inMAD and FAP
Operating systemCompatible Time-Sharing System
PlatformIBM 7094
TypeDocument editor and text formatting programs

TYPSET is an early document editor that was used with the 1964-released RUNOFF program, one of the earliest text formatting programs to see significant use.[1]

Of two earlier print/formatting programs DITTO and TJ-2, only the latter had, and introduced, text justification; RUNOFF also added pagination.

The name RUNOFF, and similar names led to other formatting program implementations. By 1982, Runoff (a name not possible before lowercase letters were introduced to filenames) 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.[2]

  1. ^ J. H. Saltzer (November 6, 1964), "TYPSET and RUNOFF, Memorandum editor and type-out commands", M.I.T. Computation Center memo CC-244 and Project MAC memo MAC-M-193, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  2. ^ Bader, William (June 16, 2023). "DEC VAX History". Retrieved 2024-04-20. DSR stands for Digital Standard Runoff, a text formatter similar to roff.