ARABIC WORD PROCESSING.

The article focuses on the process of automatically intermixing Arabic writing with text in European or other languages. The predominant language of the Middle East is Arabic. The societies of the Middle East are now aggressively modernizing themselves in the field of computers. Until recently, human interaction with computers in the languages of the Middle East has been hindered by the unusual properties of the native alphabets. Scores of companies are producing computer applications in the Middle East today. A design for Arabic word processing is probably best conceived in the context of Arabic desktop publishing. Automatic layout algorithms can be made remarkably competent; certainly 99.9 percent of all mixed directional text can be laid out correctly by the computer without any kind of directional indications from the typist. The technology of word processing in the Middle East is right now at the exciting phase where the peculiarities of the native scripts are yielding to sophisticated system design. Improved interaction with computers will surely bring economic and cultural gains to the societies of the Middle East, and such developments are bound to hold significance for all.