{Evolutionary changes in Persian and Arabic scripts to accommodate
 the~printing press, typewriting, and computerized word processing}
{Behrooz Parhami}
{The Persian script has presented difficulties for printing
ever since printing presses were introduced in Iran in the 1600s. The
appearance of typewriters created additional problems and the introduction
of digital computers added to the design challenges. The Arabic script
presented nearly identical complications. These difficulties persisted
until high-resolution dot-matrix printers and display devices offered
greater flexibility to font designers and the expansion of the computer
market in the Middle East attracted investments to help solve the problems.

Nevertheless, certain peculiarities of Persian and Arabic scripts have led
to legibility and aesthetic quality issues to persist in many cases. In
this presentation, I will enumerate some of the features of modern Persian
and Arabic scripts that made implementation on modern technologies quite
challenging and review the issues presented by, and some of the solutions
proposed for, each new generation of computer printers and display devices.
\looseness-1

Interestingly, the same features that make legible and pleasant
printing/displaying difficult also lead to challenges in automatic text
recognition. I will conclude with an overview of current state of the art
and areas that still need further work.}