Automatic recognition of print and script

A deceptively simple kind of optical pattern recognition deals with print and script. What seemed at one time to be a fairly easy problem area in automated reading of line-like patterns has turned out to be difficult and expensive. The evolution and present state of the art of machine recognition of print and script is examined. On-hand systems relieve large amounts of human drudgery, and both theory and engineering design have advanced greatly in response to pressures caused by our paper explosion. But major problems of cost and effectiveness still exist.