Page:A contribution to computer typesetting techniques - tables of coordinates for Hershey's repertory of occidental type fonts and graphic symbols (IA contributiontoco424wolc).pdf/8

 man to achieve the digitizing of literally thousands of characters requires a large measure of motivation. industry and fortitude — the last in nearly all of its dictionary connotations.

Dr. Allen V. Hershey, a mathematical physicist at the U.S. Naval Weapons Laboratory in Dahlgren. Virginia, carried out the digitization (by hand and eye) of the characters illustrated in this publication. The successful completion of such an ambitious undertaking as this, required a happy mixture of art and science — of alphabets and algorithms, of calligraphy and computing. and of psychology and printing. The reader would be quite correct to assume that the presence of the word occidental in the title of this report implies that oriental alphabets have also been digitized by Dr. Hershey.

In an NWL report dated 1 August 1967 [1]. Dr. Hershey discusses the motivation for and the various considerations involved to achieve adequate digitization of both the occidental and oriental alphabets. In the latter category that report contains an engaging introduction to the origin and characteristics of the modern Japanese characters and contains illustrations of the 600 or so Kanji, the Hiragana, and the Katakana characters which he has digitized. The report concludes with a 30 page lexicon of over 1100 important Japanese words of technical interest. Today there are more automatic techniques for digitizing oriental or even occidental alphabets but these systems normally involve storing much more information per character than is needed in Hershey’s method.

In subsequent NWL reports dated September 1969 [2], and September 1972 {3], Hershey describes his FORTRAN typographic and cartographic systems which utilize the library of digitized characters to compose finished pages of text, maps and drawings, and mathematical equations. More recently, the FORTRAN typographic system was described in the periodical literature [4] as a “do-it-yourself capability [for] programmers and scientists who would like to do some printing of their own”. The extent to which this do-it-yourself system is able to produce high quality graphic-arts mathematical tracts is best exemplified by Dr. Hershey’s publications (5. 6, 7, 8) on mathematical subjects which are, actually, his major line of interest and employment.

The above cited NWL reports have received limited distribution — too limited, we believe, in view of the present and potential utility of his system. Our contact with numerous groups interested in digitized characters for various purposes has led us to conclude that the publication of the tables of Dr. Hershey’s coordinates in this publication would be a public service.

2. Computer Output on Microfilm

The proliferation of computers and their burgeoning applications produce literally mountains of paper most of which ends up, after a relatively short space of time, in the wastebasket or in the recycling box. Where programs produce large volumes of output required for archival purposes, such as parts lists, inventory records, or accounting records, etc., microform versions represent more economic, more ecologically desirable, and more physically manageable output media. The drive towards microform output of computer results has stumulated the development of a large variety of devices {now referred to as COM) for computer output on microfilm. The output of a COM device is usually on roll film (16mm and/or 35mm) or more recently on 105mm film in the form of microfiche. In any