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Do-It-Yourself Arabic Word Processing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Dilworth B. Parkinson
Dilworth B. Parkinson*
Affiliation:
Brigham Young University
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Extract

This article is a personal account of how I, a professor of Arabic with no computer background, managed to get Arabic word-processing capabilities out of the computing facilities already intact in my college, with relatively little capital outlay. Although many of the details would be different at other institutions, it is clear that the same basic strategies could be followed to get word-processing capabilities anywhere the basic computing facilities already exist.

Before I begin my story, I should explain that there are Arabic word processors “out there” of varying qualities. CPT, Wang, Apple, Merganthaler, Xerox, and others have products either out or almost out which range in cost from a few thousand to almost a hundred thousand dollars. Except for the Xerox product, the Arabic on the screen is rather ugly, but when connected to a letter quality Arabic printer the hard copy of most is acceptable.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of Middle East Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , July 1984 , pp. 22 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America 1984

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References

1 It should be pointed out here that the Humanities Research Center staff was of invaluable assistance in developing the system described here. Mel Smith gave constant guidance on the shape of the program, and Randy Jones, the director of the Center, provided strong administrative support.

2 Anyone desiring more detailed information on programming strategies for these purposes is welcome to contact the author.

3 Some of the ways that computers have been helping professors of other languages would not be available to the professor of Arabic without the existence of a system that actually displayed the Arabic characters on the screen. Computer Assisted Instruction comes to mind, along with any of the recent work on interactive videodisk technology. It is heartening that the graphics capabilities of personal computers are expanding rapidly, while the computers are decreasing in price. Inexpensive systems with nice Arabic display are almost certainly not far away.