| The Last Word THERE'S no getting away from it , The Last Word , from Saga Systems is different from any other word processor I 've seen - and that includes Amstrad Locoscript and Wordstar on CP/M . It has all the functions required of a word processor and includes commands which you may need when you 've got to know the package better . You do not , however , have to know all the commands to write simply structured documents . The main control keys are symbol shift and extended mode so the program is easiest to use on the Spectrum Plus , or 128 , rather than the old 48K machine . Of course , the system will also work well with the Saga Systems keyboard - but then it would , would n't it ? The screen is split into the usual status bar sector - at the top - and the document window , which takes up most of the page . Text can be printed on the screen in a number of sizes ranging from 40 to 80 characters a line . Margins can be set to cope with any paper width . If your printer copes with 100 characters a line , so will The Last Word . However , unlike other word processors with this facility , everything is displayed on screen . For instance , if you set the screen to 60 characters a line and your margins to 100 characters a line , then the left-over characters would be put on the next line of the screen window . Tabulation positions are also simple to set but slightly inflexible as you can only set one width of margin . You could put a tab marker every eight characters along the screen width . You can clear all those tabs by entering ' one ' as the specification , but you cannot set up odd tabs at varying distances along a line . Once you 've set the tabs and margins for your document you can type in the text . Unlike a typewriter , however , you do not have to worry about the end of a line . It will simply split the last word on the line in half or , if the word wrap is in operation , the word which would be split is taken onto the next line . The four cursor arrow keys are used when editing text line-to-line or character-to-character . Using the extended mode and symbol shift , you can also move through a document word by word , or sentence - not line - by sentence . Movement around the text file is made simpler with a Goto command using extended mode . That type of command is best used when you need to go to the end or beginning of a file and will do it quickly without panning through the remainder of the document . Copy can be manipulated in blocks - paragraphs - or whole documents . Lines can be justified against the left , right or both margins , and even centred . If you make an error in layout , blocks of text or even the whole document can be reformatted so that more characters can be put on a page , lines can be made shorter by moving in the margins , and text can be centred . Blocks of text can be copied from one area of the document to another . You can also delete paragraphs and find words or phrases in the text . The latter option looks at each group of characters , which it deems to recognise as a word , and that can cause problems . If you wanted to find every recurrence of the word ' Gilbert ' then The Last Word would find it with no problems unless the word had a comma after it - Gilbert , - in which case it would not recognise it . To be fair , this is a fault shared by other word processors . You will often want to know how many words are in your document . The Last Word not only gives the number of words but also the number of bytes used to store the text file . Files can be up to 24K long which allows you to put almost 25,000 characters in your documents . Words have an average length of six characters , so the program can hold roughly 4,000 words - enough for the most ardent writer . The Last Word has a unique way of handling printer and file compatibility . You can exit to Basic and produce routines to drive the printer , transfer files from other machines or storage devices , and set up text within strings such as names and addresses , which can then be inserted in your documents . All those functions are called when the program reaches a special mark in the text . Print parameters , such as setting the type of text you require - bold , italic or double sized - can also be set up using those marks . The markers can be set anywhere within a document and several of them can be run together . If you put two or three in a row you will notice a strange , but appealing attribute of the word processor . You can put hundreds of markers one after the other but they will take only one space in your document . Once set you can see what effect the markers are meant to achieve by passing the cursor over the black marker blob and pressing the right cursor key . Each marker 's job will be displayed in the status window , one at a time , as you page through them . When you 've encountered all the markers you have set , the cursor will start to move down the line again . You can dump your text to a wide variety of printers using Centronics and RS 232 interfaces . Setting up the program to cope with your particular printer interface will cause no problems . It includes an interactive menu on which is displayed all the control codes for interfaces . Just turn to the code appendix for your interface . The Last Word is the friendliest word processor I have used . It has everything you require with a host of extras - a remarkable programming feat given the memory available . The program even includes a calculator and an alarm clock . The calculator manipulates numerical data within documents - such as lengthy formulae - and the alarm can be set to remind you when to save your files . The manufacturer recommends that you back up your work every half an hour-very sound advice too . The author has spent two years writing the program . He had no experience of word processors , but merely an idea of what he would want a text manipulator to achieve . He has succeeded in surpassing the quality of all word processors on the Sinclair market , and many in the MS-DOS and CP/M markets . Whether The Last Word is the last word in word processing , only time - and the other manufacturers who take it up - will tell . As for Saga , it intends to produce a 128K version and updates for the Spectrum . It has no plans to launch it on other machines so , you lucky Spectrum people , you are part of a growing minority which can enjoy the power of The Last Word |