is a text-formatting program,
written by J. F. Ossanna,
high-quality printed output from the phototypesetter
This document is an example of
The single most important rule
not to use it directly, but through some intermediary.
resembles an assembly language _
a remarkably powerful and flexible one _
but nonetheless such that many operations must be specified
at a level of detail and in a form that is too hard
for most people to use effectively.
For two special applications, there are programs that provide
for the majority of users.
provides an easy to learn language for typesetting mathematics;
provides the same convenience for producing tables of arbitrary
For producing straight text (which may well contain mathematics or tables), there are a number of `macro packages'
that define formatting rules and operations for specific styles
In particular, the `\-ms'
for Bell Labs internal memoranda and external papers
provide most of the facilities needed
for a wide range of document preparation.
(This memo was prepared with `\-ms'.)
There are also packages for viewgraphs,
and for other special applications.
Typically you will find these packages easier to use
once you get beyond the most trivial operations;
you should always consider them first.
In the few cases where existing packages don't do the whole job,
to write an entirely new set of
instructions from scratch, but to make small changes
to adapt packages that already exist.
In accordance with this philosophy of letting someone else
described here is only a small part of the whole,
although it tries to concentrate on the more useful parts.
In any case, there is no attempt to be complete.
Rather, the emphasis is on showing how to do simple things,
and how to make incremental changes to what already exists.
The contents of the remaining sections are:
\02. Point sizes and line spacing
\03. Fonts and special characters
\04. Indents and line length
\06. Local motions: Drawing lines and characters
\08. Introduction to macros
\09. Titles, pages and numbering
10. Number registers and arithmetic
11. Macros with arguments
Appendix: Typesetter character set
described here is the C-language version running on
you have to prepare not only the actual text you want printed,
but some information that tells
will find the approach familiar.)
the formatting information are often intertwined quite intimately.
are placed on a line separate from the text itself,
beginning with a period (one command per line).
will change the `point size',
the size of the letters being printed,
to `14 point' (one point is 1/72 inch) like this:
something special occurs in the middle of a line _
Area = \(*p\fIr\fR\|\s8\u2\d\s0
Area = \e(*p\efIr\efR\e\^|\^\es8\eu2\ed\es0
(which we will explain shortly).
commands and special characters within a line of text.