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RUNOFF was the first computer
Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
 text formatting program
Computer program

Computer programs are Instruction for a computer. A computer requires programs to function. Moreover, a computer program does not run unless its instructions are executed by a Central processing unit; however, a program may communicate an Algorithm#Formalization of algorithms to people without running....
 to see significant use. It was written in 1964 for the CTSS operating system by Jerome H. Saltzer
Jerome H. Saltzer

Jerome H. Saltzer is a computer scientist who has made many notable contributions....
 in MAD assembler
Assembly language

An assembly language is a low-level language for programming computers. It implements a symbolic representation of the numeric machine codes and other constants needed to program a particular CPU architecture....
.

It actually consisted of a pair of programs, TYPSET (which was basically a document editor), and RUNOFF (the output processor). RUNOFF had support for pagination and headers, as well as text justification
Justification (typesetting)

In typesetting, justification is the typographic alignment setting of typography or s within a column or "measure" to align along both the left and right Margin ....
. (TJ-2
TJ-2

Type Justifying Program called TJ-2 was published by Peter Samson in May 1963 and is thought to be the first page layout program. Although it lacks page numbers, headers and footers, TJ-2 is the first application software and word processor to offer all of the features needed to Indentation, center, word wrap, justify, and hyphenate tex...
 appears to have been the earliest text justification system, but it did not have the other capabilities.)

RUNOFF is a direct predecessor of the runoff
Runoff (program)

runoff was the text formatting computer program on the Multics operating system.It was a descendant of the RUNOFF type-setting program from Compatible Time-Sharing System and was originally written by Jerome H....
 document formatting program of Multics
Multics

Multics was an extremely influential early time-sharing operating system. The project was started in 1964. The last known running Multics installation was shut down on October 30, 2000....
, which in turn was the ancestor of the roff
Roff

roff was the first Unix text-formatting computer program, also the most important application run on the first machine specifically purchased to run UNIX, and a predecessor of the nroff and troff document processing systems on Unix....
 and nroff
Nroff

nroff is a Unix text-formatting computer program; it produces output suitable for simple fixed-width computer printer and computer terminal windows....
 document formatting programs of Unix
Unix

Unix is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of American Telephone & Telegraph employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson , Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna....
, and their descendants.






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Encyclopedia


RUNOFF was the first computer
Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
 text formatting program
Computer program

Computer programs are Instruction for a computer. A computer requires programs to function. Moreover, a computer program does not run unless its instructions are executed by a Central processing unit; however, a program may communicate an Algorithm#Formalization of algorithms to people without running....
 to see significant use. It was written in 1964 for the CTSS operating system by Jerome H. Saltzer
Jerome H. Saltzer

Jerome H. Saltzer is a computer scientist who has made many notable contributions....
 in MAD assembler
Assembly language

An assembly language is a low-level language for programming computers. It implements a symbolic representation of the numeric machine codes and other constants needed to program a particular CPU architecture....
.

It actually consisted of a pair of programs, TYPSET (which was basically a document editor), and RUNOFF (the output processor). RUNOFF had support for pagination and headers, as well as text justification
Justification (typesetting)

In typesetting, justification is the typographic alignment setting of typography or s within a column or "measure" to align along both the left and right Margin ....
. (TJ-2
TJ-2

Type Justifying Program called TJ-2 was published by Peter Samson in May 1963 and is thought to be the first page layout program. Although it lacks page numbers, headers and footers, TJ-2 is the first application software and word processor to offer all of the features needed to Indentation, center, word wrap, justify, and hyphenate tex...
 appears to have been the earliest text justification system, but it did not have the other capabilities.)

RUNOFF is a direct predecessor of the runoff
Runoff (program)

runoff was the text formatting computer program on the Multics operating system.It was a descendant of the RUNOFF type-setting program from Compatible Time-Sharing System and was originally written by Jerome H....
 document formatting program of Multics
Multics

Multics was an extremely influential early time-sharing operating system. The project was started in 1964. The last known running Multics installation was shut down on October 30, 2000....
, which in turn was the ancestor of the roff
Roff

roff was the first Unix text-formatting computer program, also the most important application run on the first machine specifically purchased to run UNIX, and a predecessor of the nroff and troff document processing systems on Unix....
 and nroff
Nroff

nroff is a Unix text-formatting computer program; it produces output suitable for simple fixed-width computer printer and computer terminal windows....
 document formatting programs of Unix
Unix

Unix is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of American Telephone & Telegraph employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson , Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna....
, and their descendants. It was also the ancestor of FORMAT for the IBM
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
 System/360
System/360

The IBM System/360 is a mainframe computer system family announced by IBM on April 7, 1964. It was the first family of computers making a clear distinction between computer architecture and implementation, allowing IBM to release a suite of compatible designs at different price points....
, and of course indirectly for every computerized word processing
Word processing

Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter....
 system.

Likewise, RUNOFF for CTSS was the predecessor of the various RUNOFFs for DEC
Digital Equipment Corporation

Digital Equipment Corporation was a pioneering United States company in the computer industry. It is often referred to within the computing industry as DEC ....
's operating systems, via the RUNOFF developed by the University of California, Berkeley's
University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley is a public university research university located in Berkeley, California, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines....
 Project Genie
Project Genie

Project Genie was a computer research project started in 1964 at the University of California, Berkeley by J.C.R. Licklider, the head of DARPA at that time....
 for the SDS
Scientific Data Systems

Scientific Data Systems, or SDS, was an United States computer company founded in September 1961 by Max Palevsky, a veteran of Packard Bell and Bendix, along with eleven other computer scientists....
 940
SDS 940

The SDS 940 was Scientific Data Systems' first machine designed to support time sharing directly, and was based on the SDS 930's 24-bit CPU built primarily of integrated circuits....
 system.

The name is alleged to have come from the phrase at the time, I'll run off a copy.

See also

  • Expensive Typewriter
    Expensive Typewriter

    Expensive Typewriter was a text editing program that ran on the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1 computer that had been recently delivered at MIT....
  • Colossal Typewriter
    Colossal Typewriter

    Colossal Typewriter by John McCarthy and Roland Silver was one of the earliest computer text editors. The program ran on the PDP-1 at Bolt, Beranek and Newman by December 1960....
  • TECO
    Text Editor and Corrector

    TECO is a text editor originally developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s, after which it was modified by 'just about everybody'....
  • TJ-2
    TJ-2

    Type Justifying Program called TJ-2 was published by Peter Samson in May 1963 and is thought to be the first page layout program. Although it lacks page numbers, headers and footers, TJ-2 is the first application software and word processor to offer all of the features needed to Indentation, center, word wrap, justify, and hyphenate tex...