Importance

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Abstract

Character style information is stored in an array, in parallel with character information stored within another data structure. The style information array has more memory allocated to it than would be required to store the style information. This surplus memory is employed to form a 'gap' in the array at a location corresponding to the point at which characters are being modified. The gap permits rapid revisions to character style information, while the array storage mechanism permits rapid random access to the style information of any character. Character style information may be mapped to corresponding characters using a run--array mechanism which associates a style with characters through use of an offset which indicates a starting character to which the style applies and a run length which indicates the number of characters to which the style applies. Additionally, the offset may be related to the beginning or to the end of the document, depending upon whether the associated style run falls before or after the memory gap.

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First Claim