Talk:PostScript

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[edit] is ps a really a programming language???

I don't thing ps is a programming language!

I don't think you've tried writing it by hand, otherwise you would know it's a programming language. --Zundark 15:21, 20 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Yeah, Go and look at Fibonacci number program's PS example. Dysprosia 22:52, 20 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Or the PS-HTTPD [1].
It really is! And it's crappy – except when printing things. Said: Rursus ☺ ★ 14:09, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

There is no question that PostScript is a real programming language. It is Turing-complete, and furthermore it can do console I/O and file I/O, and it does graphics Really Well. It is not a markup language like HTML, XML, SGML, TeX, LaTeX, or PDF. Those languages are not Turing-complete (to the best of my knowledge, although TeX/LaTeX may be).

-- JeffreyMeunier

TeX is indeed Turing-complete. Knuth wrote a macro (it's in the TeXbook somewhere) so that you could type \primes{n} and get the first n primes, which is pretty impressive. grendel|khan 20:54, 2005 Apr 7 (UTC)

[edit] How much was PostScript design influenced by FORTH?

Can some language history expert please tell (and substantiate) whether PostScript design is just similar to Forth or was it derived from it to some extent? BACbKA 10:40, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)

They're both stack based programming languages, so they're bound to look similar. The RPN style was chosen since it's supposed to be optimised for machine handling. Dysprosia 10:48, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Answering my own question: according to [2], the design was a little bit influenced, but the implementation paradigm was completely independent. BACbKA 12:52, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] PostScript origins

"The language had its beginnings in 1976 at the Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation, where it was known as the `Design System'... Although the Design System language and its successors bear a superficial resemblance to the FORTH programming language, their conception and development were entirely independent of FORTH."

Postscript language reference manual, Adobe Systems Incorporated, 1985

Is there any point in incorporating any of this information? --Rpresser 06:07, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] John Gaffney ???

A "John Gaffney" is mentioned in one of the first paragraphs. Vandalism, or just an unexplained name ?

-- Cmskog 11:39, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

FOLDOC and others claim he was a big guy at Evans & Sutherland; sounds reasonable to me.
Atlant 19:01, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
In any case, it links to the wrong page. Is he a notable person? I am removing the wikilink, and if someone feels he is important enough, they can make a page on him. Masud 03:42, 31 March 2006 (UTC)
As of this writing, John Gaffney is a senior Adobe manager. His role in the development of PostScript is discussed by John Warnock here: http://www.epsg.org.uk/pub/warnock/warnock_01.html Thomas Phinney 20:02, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] PCL6 is not Postscript

Nor is it even close. So I reverted. --Rpresser 05:48, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pipe?

Any one know what the pipe is that is given before a mast, happens and what the pipe is when it is over? Is there any reference to follow?

[edit] Advertising?

Some of the items in the "hacks" section link to external pages selling the source code in question. Since there are free examples as well, I can't see much point in having them there.

I'm not removing them yet, in case someone comes up with a good reason to keep them.

Robert 11:32, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Too much font stuff?

On the one hand, there's no denying that font handling is a critical part of PostScript, and that the existence of scalable Type 1 fonts was key in the early adoption of the PostScript language. But I am still skeptical that the latest material on CFF, Type 2, and CID-keyed fonts belongs here, any more than similar material on TrueType would belong here - PostScript devices all have native TrueType support, and have done so for well over a decade. This stuff should all be separate and linked, I'd say. Indeed, I think even Type 1 should also be a separate, referenced article rather than part of this article. Thoughts? Thomas Phinney 20:07, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] No mention of resolution Independence?

--Navstar 22:43, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mac OS X

It was my understanding that Mac OS X has postscript highly integrated into the operating system yet the article doesn't really mention this. Theshibboleth 07:24, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Nah, Quartz is PDF, not PostScript (well, the common subset, actually). Inspired by Display Postscript, though. EdC 19:22, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Multiparadigm??

Why is PostScript a multiparadigm PL?? As much as I know it only supports iterative programming. Said: Rursus ☺ ★ 14:12, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

Do you mean imperative, I don't see any mention of iterative on that linked page. -John Doe

PostScript supports functional programming style well given that the model is based on combinatory calculus. Please see the language Joy for an example of combinatory model. Blufox (talk) 19:24, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ps edit

What tools are available to edit postscript files? To downsample or remove embedded images? -69.87.200.8 23:56, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] PostScript today?

Is PostScript still relevant? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.67.35.214 (talk) 18:33, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Without a doubt. If I were to estimate, it has support among over a million printers world wide, where available on these printers it is used as the page description language of choice, from soho to enterprise production printers. 124.171.29.232 (talk) 10:01, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Use of Homogeneous Coordinates

The article claims that translation (!) and rotation are handled using a "2D Transformation Matrix". I doubt that many implementations will do this. It supposedly is a lot easier and more efficient to use a 3D matrix instead and a technique called homogeneous coordinates. This allows rotations and translations to be combined easily into a single matrix that needs to be kept as current context. Looking at the Ghostscript API suggests that this it at least the way it is handled in Ghostscript. See also http://merganser.math.gvsu.edu/david/psseminar/index.html 84.154.14.147 (talk) 15:40, 12 May 2008 (UTC)