Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!ig!arizona!gln
From: gln@arizona.edu (Gary L. Newell)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Typing versus Handwriting
Summary: a few points
Keywords: typewriting keyboards handwriting tablets
Message-ID: <11738@megaron.arizona.edu>
Date: 15 Jun 89 08:40:26 GMT
References: <1440001@hp-ptp.HP.COM> <11581@megaron.arizona.edu> <2203@trantor.harris-atd.com>
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 38

In article <2203@trantor.harris-atd.com>, chuck@melmac.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) writes:
>      I would like to see a computer which could read my handwriting, since a
> lot of the time, *I* can't read my writing.  My handwriting was never good,
> and since I find myself typing almost everything I need to write, my hand-
>writing has atrophied to the point where I have a hard time remembering certain
> little used cursive letters, like capital Q.  If I want to be clear, I print,

A few interesting points - first, it isn't clear how recognition is effected
by legibility - most recognition methods use stroke counts and direction
changes or stroke sequences etc. to recognize characters - it may be that
a system could actually recognize 'what you meant' to draw better than you 
or I. Secodn, cursive recognizers are pretty bad (in my opinion), even most
recognizers of printing require that the user print in boxes, and many
require that the letters all be uppercase etc....

> which is horribly slow and tedious.  When I write out greeting cards and the
> like, I usually have hand cramps after about 15 lines of text.  Now that I
> can reach my parents via e-mail, I don't even need to write letters.

This is what I tried to point out in my last posting - a stylus/tablet interface
is simply a very poor idea for applications with a large percentage of text
entry. Editting, spreadsheets, some formula writing, are better applications
for these systems (assuming that human factors problems along with hardware
problems are overcome and a reasonable system appears).

>      My use of computers has evolved along similar lines.  When I started out,
> I would write out programs in longhand, and then type them in (on an ASR-33
> teletype at 110 baud!).  After a while, I would just note down psuedo-code,
> and convert to real code as I typed.  Finally, I just started composing code
> on the fly.  I haven't put a line of code on paper in about six years.

This seems to be more common than I thought - I used this 'creative method'
myself and it seems that during a design phase or initial creation, it is 
common for people to use pen/paper due to a variety of properties - it
seems that gestural interfaces may also be effective in this area.


		gln