TJ-2
Encyclopedia
TJ-2 was published by Peter Samson
in May 1963 and is thought to be the first page layout
program. Although it lacks page numbering
, page header
s and footers, TJ-2 is the first word processor
to provide a number of essential typographic alignment
and automatic typesetting
features:
Developed from two earlier Samson programs, Justify and TJ-1, TJ-2 was written for the PDP-1
that was donated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in 1961 by Digital Equipment Corporation
.
Taking English text as input, TJ-2 aligns left and right margins, justifying the output using white space and word hyphenation. Text is marked-up with single lowercase characters combined with the PDP-1's overline character, carriage returns, and internal concise codes. The computer's six toggle switches control the input and output devices, enable and disable hyphenation and stop the session. Words can be hyphenated with a light pen
on the computer's CRT
display and from the session's dictionary in memory. On-screen hyphenation has SAVE and FORGET commands and OOPS, the undo
.
Comments in the code were quoted thirty years later: "The ways of God are just and can be justified to man" and "Girls who wear pants should be sure that the end justifies the jeans."
TJ-2 was succeeded by TYPSET and RUNOFF, a pair of complementary programs written in 1964 for the CTSS operating system. TYPSET and RUNOFF soon evolved into runoff
for Multics
, which was in turn ported to Unix
in the 1970s as roff
.
Peter Samson
Peter R. Samson is an American computer scientist, best known for creating pioneering computer software....
in May 1963 and is thought to be the first page layout
Page layout
Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement and style treatment of elements on a page.- History and development :...
program. Although it lacks page numbering
Page numbering
Page numbering is the process of applying a sequence of numbers to the pages of a book or other document. The number itself, which may appear in various places on the page, can be referred to as a page number or as a folio...
, page header
Page header
A page header or simply header in typography is text which is separated from the main body of text and appears at the top of a printed page...
s and footers, TJ-2 is the first word processor
Word processor
A word processor is a computer application used for the production of any sort of printable material....
to provide a number of essential typographic alignment
Typographic alignment
In typesetting and page layout, alignment or range, is the setting of text flow or image placement relative to a page, column , table cell or tab...
and automatic typesetting
Typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
features:
- ColumnationColumn (typography)In typography, a column is one or more vertical blocks of content positioned on a page, separated by gutters and/or rules. Columns are most commonly used to break up large bodies of text that cannot fit in a single block of text on a page. Additionally, columns are used to improve page composition...
, indentation, marginsMargin (typography)In typography, a margin is the space that surrounds the content of a page. The margin helps to define where a line of text begins and ends. When a page is justified the text is spread out to be flush with the left and right margins...
, justificationJustification (typesetting)In typesetting, justification is the typographic alignment setting of text or images within a column or "measure" to align along both the left and right margin...
, and centering - Word wrapWord wrapIn text display, line wrap is the feature of continuing on a new line when a line is full, such that each line fits in the viewable window, allowing text to be read from top to bottom without any horizontal scrolling....
, page breakPage BreakA page break is a marker in an electronic document that tells the document interpreter that the content which follows is part of a new page. A page break causes a form feed to be sent to the printer during spooling of the document to the printer.-Form feed:...
s and automatic hyphenation - Tab stopTab stopA tab stop on a typewriter is a location where the carriage movement is halted by mechanical gears. Tab stops are set manually, and pressing the tab key causes the carriage to go to the next tab stop...
simulation
Developed from two earlier Samson programs, Justify and TJ-1, TJ-2 was written for the PDP-1
PDP-1
The PDP-1 was the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1960. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at MIT, BBN and elsewhere...
that was donated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in 1961 by Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
.
Taking English text as input, TJ-2 aligns left and right margins, justifying the output using white space and word hyphenation. Text is marked-up with single lowercase characters combined with the PDP-1's overline character, carriage returns, and internal concise codes. The computer's six toggle switches control the input and output devices, enable and disable hyphenation and stop the session. Words can be hyphenated with a light pen
Light pen
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's CRT TV set or monitor. It allows the user to point to displayed objects, or draw on the screen, in a similar way to a touch screen but with greater positional accuracy...
on the computer's CRT
Cathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
display and from the session's dictionary in memory. On-screen hyphenation has SAVE and FORGET commands and OOPS, the undo
Undo
Undo is a command in many computer programs. It erases the last change done to the document reverting it to an older state. In some more advanced programs such as graphic processing, undo will negate the last command done to the file being edited....
.
Comments in the code were quoted thirty years later: "The ways of God are just and can be justified to man" and "Girls who wear pants should be sure that the end justifies the jeans."
TJ-2 was succeeded by TYPSET and RUNOFF, a pair of complementary programs written in 1964 for the CTSS operating system. TYPSET and RUNOFF soon evolved into runoff
Runoff (program)
runoff was the text formatting program on the Multics operating system.It was a descendant of the RUNOFF type-setting program from CTSS and was originally written by Jerome H. Saltzer...
for Multics
Multics
Multics was an influential early time-sharing operating system. The project was started in 1964 in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
, which was in turn ported to Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
in the 1970s as roff
Roff
roff was the first Unix text-formatting computer program, the most important application run on the first machine specifically purchased to run UNIX, and a predecessor of the nroff and troff document processing systems....
.
See also
- Colossal TypewriterColossal TypewriterColossal 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 by December 1960....
- Desktop publishingDesktop publishingDesktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...
- Expensive TypewriterExpensive TypewriterExpensive Typewriter was a text editing program that ran on the DEC PDP-1 computer that had been recently delivered at MIT. Since it could drive an IBM Selectric typewriter , it may be considered the first word processing program, although it was not WYSIWYG, having no CRT display. It was written...
- Peter SamsonPeter SamsonPeter R. Samson is an American computer scientist, best known for creating pioneering computer software....
- Text editorText editorA text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
- Text Editor and CorrectorText Editor and CorrectorTECO is a text editor originally developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s, after which it was modified by 'just about everybody'...
(TECO) - TYPSET and RUNOFF