A Good Reason to Spellcheck the Old-fashioned (Commodore) Way Before computers came on the scene, word processing consisted of pen or typewriter on paper. The prudent followed with proofreading all but the most casual work. And more often than not, the needed corrections required redoing the work. The advent of word processors brought a lot of relief to that methodology. Instead of retyping an entire effort after the proofreading, merely making needed changes in the text finished the work. This in turn brought about improved composition. The ease with which corrections could be made encouraged the writer to focus on creation rather than the mechanics of spelling, etc. Next came spellcheckers. The computers of the day (including Commodore) lacked sufficient memory to hold a large dictionary. So spellchecking was performed as a separate task following the writing effort. This proved faster than looking words up manually and had the advantage of catching errors overlooked by the eye. Today, though, the newest computers perform spellchecking as the document is typed. That is, if a word is typed that is not contained in the program's spelling dictionary, it is immediately flagged, often highlighted with a red line under it. At first thought, this instant spellcheck may sound like a good idea. However, many users find that it interrupts the flow of thought, prompting some to turn off the feature. But then they don't bother to spellcheck the finished work. On the other hand, those who do use the feature tend to forgo proofreading completed work. As a consequence, omitted words, lapses in grammar, and typo's witch otherwise from correctly spilled wards escape detection. (From the Civic 64/128 Gazette, Oxnard/Ventura CA, April 2000)