Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!dewey.soe.berkeley.edu!oster
From: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (David Phillip Oster)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc
Subject: Re: Hebrew Word Processor
Message-ID: <25172@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 22 Jul 88 13:04:36 GMT
References: <8807200951.AA25406@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <12316@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu.UUCP (David Phillip Oster)
Organization: School of Education, UC-Berkeley
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All Macintoshes from the MacPlus on include an operating system component
called "The Script Manager". The Script Manager gives Macintoshes
multi-lingual capaibility. One document, even one line may include up to
16 different scripts, for example it may include English (using a 256
character font.), Hebrew, and japanese (using a 6000 character font and a
2-byte encoding.)  Each script provides its own comparison routine so
names will be correctly sorted into the appropriate alphabetical order.
The script manger handles selections that cross boundaries from
left-to-right text to right-to-left text, (and vice versa, and simpler
selections of course.)  The script manager handles remapping the keyboard
as you shift from language family to family (by simple font change
commands.)  You can also daisy-chain multiple keyboards on the SE and the
Mac II. (The operating system supports multiple diverse keyboards, and the
"Apple Desktop Bus" defines all the low - level stuff to just plug a
second keyboard on the machine.)

Apple provides standard tools, such as "ResEdit" that let end users,
change the prompts, error messages, menu commands, menu command key
equivalents,  and help texts of commercial software. 
(and also the arrangement and spacing since not all languages take the
same amount of space to specify a command.) (The software is inherently
multi-lingual, but _you_ probably prefer to have all your commands and
prompts be in the same language.)

This means that if you want a Hebrew version of say, Aldus Pagemaker, a
bilingual friend can make one from a store-bought English version in a
few hours work.

Most modern Macintosh word processors advertise "Script Manager
Compatibility." Any Script Manager compatible word processor will work
fine in both Hebrew and English.

-----
The operating system also provides "The Window Manager", which defines a
high-level interface from the application program to the screen, and "The
print manager" that defines a high level interface from the application
program to printers. What this means is you can stick an arbitrary video
card in your mac and all your old software will take full advantage of it.
(On a Mac II you can fill all the slots with video cards and have an
non-rectangular desktop consisting of all 6 crts.) Windows can be
partially on one crt and partially on another.
Since applications print by sending a string of graphics commands to the
printer (move to these corrdinates, draw this text in this font here.) Mac
applications are inherently compatible with printers, plotters, and
typesetters. One printer driver allows all your application programs to
use that printer.  (Other machines require that _each_ application know
how to use the new printer.)

This means that your word processor is not tied to any particular set of
display cards nor any particular set of printers.

The operating system also provides switching from application program to
application program in well under 1/4 second. (I regularly document my
programs by having a drawing program (for embedded figures),
a program editor, a word processor, an outline editor,
and my program itself, all running simultaneously, each in its own
windows.) The Scrap Manager provides cut and paste between
applications, and three standard scrap types that most applications
support are:
1.) text (straight ascii text)
2.) fonted text. (The script manager defines this standard.)
3.) pictures. (These are byte-encoded lists of graphics calls, not just
bitmaps, so they may include move and draw-text commands.)

There is a lot more, such as kerned, proportionally-spaced fonts, provided
by the system, and hence available to all applications. The system will
synthesize fonts, so even if you don't have to have an artist-drawn bitmap of
each size, you can still use it. (but the more bitmaps you have, the
better your screens will look.)

It is also easier to learn, use, and maintain than other systems.

--- David Phillip Oster            --When you asked me to live in sin with you
Arpa: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu --I didn't know you meant sloth.
Uucp: {uwvax,decvax,ihnp4}!ucbvax!oster%dewey.soe.berkeley.edu