The Selection of Optimal Tab Settings A new generation of computer terminals allows tab settings to be selected and set by the computer. This feature can be used to reduce the number of characters that are needed to represent a document for transmission and printing. In this note, an algorithm is given for selecting the optimal set of tab stops for minimizing the number of characters transmitted. An implementation of the algorithm has reduced the number of characters transmitted by from 7 to 30 percent, but requires a prepass through the document to compute a matrix used in determining the optimal set tab stops. The use of fixed tab stops, as a heuristic alternative, can achieve about 80 percent of optimal with no prepass. CACM December, 1978 Peterson, J. Bitner, J. Howard, J. Tabs, word processing, dynamic programming 3.9 4.4 CA781203 DH January 18, 1979 4:34 PM 3036 5 3036 3036 5 3036 3036 5 3036