By high quality we mean that an author has full control over the graphical output and can produce clean computer code. Pdf was a better format for distributing finished documents. Postscript is a page description language pdl developed by adobe. Epson c20sx uniprint from ghostscript does not work. However, it is possible to write computer programs in postscript just like any other programming language. In digital printing, a page description language pdl is a computer language that describes. The language resembles the programming language forth somewhat. Postscript language tutorial and cookbook the blue book. Postscript is a special purpose programming language designed for describing visual output. Postscript is an unusually powerful printer language because it is a full programming language, rather than a series of lowlevel escape sequences. There are three different versions of it, postscript level 1, level 2, and level 3.
That said, its a fun programming language by itself, but my second programming language was forth, so im probably biased. The portable document format is another standard, also from adobe. The name postscript also is used as a product trademark for adobe systems implementation of the postscript language interpreter. The postscript computer programming language was originally developed by adobe systems to communicate complex graphic printing instructions to digital laser printers. Postscript is one of the most noted page description languages. Both postscript and nonpostscript printer drivers let you specify whether a document will print to a printer or to a file. The descriptive aspect of the language is able to define images in a resolutionagnostic manner this means that it doesnt describe pixels like a bitmap but rather describes shapes which can scale to any size or resolution. The first thing we should do is take a look at postscript. The appearance of a page is described by a program creating points, lines, and other blobs of color on the page. It allows definition of new control structures at run time, allows reflection and reification of stack, scopes, and even continuations.
Ghostscripts capabilities in relation to postscript. They are distinct from graphics application programming interfaces apis such as. The postscript programming language1 1 history and overview the primary advantages of the programming language postscript are that it is simple, ef. Postscript language program design adobe systems inc. Unfortunately, postscript support is scarce outside the laser printer domain, and is. Postscript ps is a page description language and programming language used. A program in postscript can communicate a document description from a composition system to a printing system in a deviceindependent way.
The language is, however, versatile enough to label it as an actual highlevel programming language. Quickscript quickscript qs is a postscript text formatting and typesetting program. Select the highest language level available to enable the most features. Because it is a selfcontained postscript language program, it can be inserted within a user program without disturbing the state of the interpreter. Postscript can be written by hand to make graphics or to describe a page for print. Its conception does not aim at using it as a general purpose programming language, but rather develop software in a highly specialized community of printer driver programmers. There are variables, loops, subroutines of a sort, and an advanced idea for the scope of variables. Download the latest drivers, firmware, and software for your samsung xpress slm2020 laser printer series. Postscript is an unusually powerful printer language because it is a full programming language, rather than a. It discusses the use of operators, dictionaries and the stack.
Postscript article about postscript by the free dictionary. Using a lower level ensures that the job can be printed on a printer with a. Postscript language tutorial and cookbook adobe systems inc. Typically, postscript programs are not produced by humans, but by other programs. In all cases, when questions of definition or precise specification are raised, thepostscript language reference manual is the final word. Postscript is a turingcomplete page description programming language, designed and developed by adobe.
We have tried to use good taste, sound judgment, and some restraint in extending an already effective and useful standard. Many printer drivers save printer files with a prn filename extension. Its also a programming language, with variables, arrays, conditionals, and a stack. This page goes into some more detail about postscript as a programming language. It introduces the postscript language at a basic level. The ghostscript interpreter, except as noted below, is intended to execute properly any source program written in the languagelevel 3 postscript language as defined in the postscript language reference, third edition isbn 02079228 published by addisonwesley in mid1999. Another difference between postscript and pdf is that postscript is a programming language but pdf is not. A trademark for a computer language for describing the appearance and layout of documents, used to print highresolution text. Ghostscript is an open source interpreter for the postscript language and for pdf. Qpdl quick page description language samsung printer language ii qpdl. Samsung easy printer manager and printing status is a program that.
Select a lower language level when troubleshooting printing problems or archiving documents. Postscript is a page description language pdl developed by adobe systems. Language specific details postscript as a programming. Postscript is a stackbased, turingcomplete programming language. It is for programmers interested in the effective and efficient design of postscript language programs and. In this tutorial and the tutorials to follow we will be writing our programs by hand and getting to. Postscript language program design addisonwesley teaches programming principles unique to the postscript language with many usable samples.
Examples of other pdls include envoy, pdf, and pcl. But normally postscript is written by a program that converts what the user puts on the page. The program displays a command line where the users need to type the proper commands in order to view, render, convert, rasterize, resize and perform other tasks related to pdf documents. It was the first deviceindependent page description language pdl, and also a. Postscript ps is a page description language and programming language used primarily in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. This difference, while important, is probably meaningful only to you techies i. The prime motivation for this is to prepare mathematical equations for inclusion in html files, but there is a broad range of uses beyond that. Postscript is a graphic programming language developed by adobe systems that allows its user to produce highquality graphics and text that can be printed. You can actually experiment with this so that you have firsthand experienced. It is an interpreted language, but the interpreter is simple enough that. It was the first deviceindependent page description language pdl, and also a programming language. Postscript definition of postscript by the free dictionary. Epl2 eltron programming language 2, page mode printing zebra, eltron. It is a dynamically typed, concatenative programming language and was.
Postscript as a programming language postscript is a programming language. In order to master a programming language, you have to learn to think like the compiler or interpreter, and instinctively know how to solve problems. Postscript is a turingcomplete programming language, belonging to the concatenative group. With display postscript, the language even has facilities for multithreaded execution. None of the success of the postscript language would be possible with. Postscript simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In spite of parkinsons disease, he has committed his life with his wife, to direct fundraising necessary for the university of arizonas neuroscience research at. It is now built into most laser printers and available in many operating systems for highquality rendering of images on display screens. It is primarily a language for printing documents on laser printers, but it can be adapted to produce images on other types of devices.
In essence, it is a programming language for describing how a page is to be printed or displayed. In this it parallels emacs, which exploited a similar insight about editing tasks. But then adobe felt the need to embed javascript in pdf files, and provide one of the most insecure js interpreters around in their reader product. The following information is designed as a first tutorial to the postscript language.
Except as otherwise stated, any mention of a postscript printer, postscript software, or similar item refers to a product that contains postscript technology created or licensed by. Note that you can only download a file saved with a postscript printer driver to a postscript printer. Postscript level 2 1991 contained several important. Released in 1984 as adobes founding technology, postscript played a key role in the desktop publishing revolution. Every computer language has a number of predefined commands. A postscript program can have loops, conditionals, and procedures. Postscript is a programming language that was designed to specify the layout of the printed page. Like other computer languages, postscript supports different types of data, such as numbers, arrays, and strings. Postscript is a full programming language designed specifically for the. Postscript postscript is a pagedescription language developed in the early 1980s by adobe systems incorporated on the basis of work postscript commands can, for example, precisely position text, in various fonts and sizes, draw images that are mathematically described, and specify colour or shading.
Contents preface ix postscript language tutorial chapter 1 introduction 1. Postscript resource directory for ps programming, training and. If nothing else, its the foundation of every pdf file, albeit in neutered form. Now a legacy file format, most printers and programs continue to support this format, with the only prerequisite being a printer utility that supports postscript. Postscript is a concatenative dynamically typed language with abundant meta language facilities. Postscript is the standard for desktop publishing because it is supported by imagesetters, the very highresolution printers used by service bureaus to produce camera. Postscript printers and postscript display software use an interpreter to convert the page description into the displayed graphics. Adobe postscript translates documents into print exactly as intended. Samsung xpress slm2020 laser printer series software and.
It is an interpreted language, but the interpreter is simple enough that it does not overburden processors. Postscript is actually a programming language as well as a file type. Download a printer file postscript or nonpostscript. Postscript is still used as an intermediate document format, since it is a fully fledged programming language allowing you to compute graphics.
Here are a couple of examples of postscript operators. Postscript is more than just a 2d graphics language, its a fully operational programming language. Typically files are created by applications such as adobe acrobat or quark xpress. Postscript was created to provide a device independent programming language especially to produce high quality graphical output, usually on hard copy devices like printers. Postscript is a mysterious language, powerful and cryptic. It is expressive and complicated and yet surprisingly simple.