taylor@hplabsc.UUCP (Dave Taylor) (07/02/86)
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This article is from munnari!murdu.oz!stephenw@seismo.CSS.GOV (Stephen Withers)
and was received on Tue Jul 1 17:35:02 1986
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For me, composing text at the keyboard has two advantages. Firstly, the
fact that I can rework material on the fly is a big timesaver, as I don't
need to worry about getting the first draft in a fit state to give to a
typist (it can simply germinate in my head and mature on the screen).
Also, the first round of fixing typist's errors is eliminated, and the
waiting time to get a paper copy is much shorter (even with a shared printer).
Secondly, there's a more subtle effect. The screen of my terminal or
personal computer is in some way much closer to the printed page. I
(hand)write in much the same way as I speak:
"Which disk is that file on?"
instead of
On which disk is that file?
This is also a time saver, but I think the main benefit is in the quality of
my work. I wish I'd had access to word processing while I was at secondary
school - or even earlier. I still have memories of how hard I had to try
to produce legible and presentable work. On many occassions it was a case
of "that'll have to do", even though I wasn't satisfied with the content.
(In case someone finds errors of spelling, grammar, or style, bear in mind
that this note was prepared with vi, not a word processing program).
Stephen Withers,
Microcomputer Support Group, University Computing Services,
The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.
ACSnet: stephenw@murdu
UUCP: {seismo,hplabs,mcvax,ukc,nttlab}!munnari!murdu.oz!stephenw
ARPA: munnari!murdu.oz!stephenw@seismo.css.gov
CSNET: stephenw%murdu@munnari.oz