Computer-Aided Publications Editor

This paper describes the computer-aided publications editor "EDIT" now being implemented to run on the GE 635 under GECOS, and eventually under Multics at Bell Telephone Laboratories. [1] The publications editor is divided into three related sections: the editing, document-layout, and printing facilities. The editing section is similar to "Typset" [2] in CTSS at M.I.T. with added features. It is a context editor with the added ability to edit by line number, and to edit with audit (the user may see and correct his recent changes and recover from what may have been a disastrous mistake¿see Fig. 2 of text). The most significant feature, however, is in the document layout. The layout facility is built upon a set of primitive requests. This set consists of requests for indentation, vertical spacing, margin control, justification, etc. The primitives can then be grouped to form more powerful requests. In the ability to group and the method of grouping lies the flexibility needed to produce different page layouts. The user may build a description from the primitives of what a paragraph, a heading, table of contents, etc., should look like in his document. This is a macro facility for document layout. In effect, a description of conventions to be used in laying out a documents, or class of documents, is placed in a file separate from the text (see Fig. 1 of text).