INTRODUCTION
This document is intended as a SPECIFICATIONS MANUAL to guide the development of the EIE System. It does not represent a User Manual although it contains the specification of the user abilities on the system. It is written in a highly segmented style which reflects the potential use of the material in the on-line EXPLANATION file which will be available as part of the EIE System and which will allow users to retrieve just enough information to satisfy a specific question on system use and options.
This comprehensive specification document is much harder to utilize for learning the system than the actual process of learning by doing. We urge any potential user who comes across this document to not try and learn the details of the system from this document. The ordering of the contents is largely from general concepts to specific details and the individual not specifically interested in detailed specifications of interactive computer systems should read the material up to and including the USER'S GUIDE and begin skimming thereafter.
As an initial specification, this document is subject to modification as it receives further review. At this stage we have not included a number of powerful features that have been considered but will probably wait until the second year in the development effort. We believe a decision on which of these are most beneficial should wait until some actual use is made of the system. However, the experienced Information System Designer will note that extensions to multi-leveled user defined procedures and in-line or indirect text-editing of a document preparation nature can logically be made within the context of these specifications.

This system is being implemented on an INTERDATA 7/32 minicomputer with 256,000 bytes of core coupled to a DIVA dual disk system (DD-32) offering 232 million unformatted bytes of disk storage. The software is being implemented by members and staff of the Computer and Information Science Department of NJIT and of Language Systems Development Corporation of Silver Springs, Maryland.
This work is supported by a grant from the Office of Science Information Services of the National Science Foundation (SIS 75-06783).
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