1. Handwriting recognition apparatus, comprising: handwriting transducer means having an output providing x-y coordinate information generated by a writer; first means, having an input coupled to said output of said handwriting transducer means, for partitioning the x-y coordinate information into first partitions, and for extracting and outputting temporally-based feature vectors from the first partitions of the x-y coordinate information; second means, having an input coupled to said output of said handwriting transducer means, for partitioning the x-y coordinate information into second partitions, and for extracting and outputting spatially-based feature vectors from the second partitions of the x-y coordinate information; and processing means, having a first input coupled to an output of said first means and a second input coupled to an output of said second means, for processing the temporally-based feature vectors that are output from said first extracting means and the spatially-based feature vectors that are output from said second extracting means to determine first probabilities that the temporally-based feature vectors represent predetermined first prototype characters and to determine second probabilities that the spatially-based feature vectors represent predetermined second prototype characters, said processing means further including means for determining, based on a weighted combination of said first probabilities and said second probabilities, a third probability that the x-y coordinate information generated by the writer represents one of a plurality of predetermined characters.