🚀 go-pugleaf

> In article <1991Mar4.075212.12828@lth.se>, d89mb@efd.lth.se (Magnus Bodin)  
writes:
> > 
> > A file to be accepted by a laser-writer must start with  
> > %!

In article <1894@chinacat.Unicom.COM> (Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) replies:
> This is just plain not so.  The % is a comment.  The interpreter will just
> ignore this line.  NONE of my files use the %!.  It is merely a commenting
> structure having to do with EPS. (Encapsulated postscript).  Some SPOOLERS
> like to see it, but the printer its self could give a rats hind end about it.
> EPS has been defined by Adobe, but it has wound up being a real rats nest
> of complexity.  This application can't interpret that applications eps
> file and vise-versa.  In my opion it is highly over-rated and quite
> useless.

Woody,

I wasn't sure we could count on you for many more myopic postings, but I'm
glad to see that you're still healthy and well.

Your world view is firmly entrenched in having your own PC, your own printer,
and home-brew PostScript.  The original poster wanted to know how to identify
a PostScript program so it could be routed, by the spooler, in an appropriate
manner.  You point out that the comments are "over-rated and quite useless."
However, this is exactly the situation under which they are quite useful,
and it happens to be a very common scenario among folks who have networks,
more than one computer, more than one kind of printer, and so forth.

You are right that the printer doesn't require %! to accept it as a PostScript
file, and you're right that it's a spooling convention.  You are not right,
however, in omitting these conventions from your files out of spite (it makes
them much more non-portable), and you are not right for condemning conventions
just because you don't happen to need them for anything.\

It should be pointed out that I have, in the past, had a hand in designing
these conventions, and therefore I am somewhat partial toward them, but we
did not invent the *need* for these conventions, only a syntax for solving
real-world, multi-computer problems such as the one faced by the original
poster.

> But then again I don't use my postscript printer as an output
> device for canned programs much, except for Pagemaker, Microsoft word,
> and Arts & letters, none of the literaly thousands of programs (well over
> 300 disks full) that I have support Postscript so EPS really is no
> big deal for me.

Perhaps the reason your thousands of programs don't support PostScript is
because you haven't upgraded them in the last five years, while this
revolution took place?  Just a guess.  All of the major (and even minor)
PC software that has support for printing at all has support for PostScript.
EPS is real, it is useful, and you might as well get used to it.  Open up
your favorite PC magazine and look for clip art, and see how many of them
don't support EPS format.

> I have rarely derived any benifit from it

Therefore it is useless for everyone else, and should not be used by
anyone.  In fact, it's a good idea to post to a public forum and tell
everyone how much you, personally, dislike it.

In fairness, DOS is a standard, and lots of people post to worldwide forums
about how much they dislike it.  But they don't recommend not using an
operating system at all, they recommend using something better, which you
haven't done.

--
 Glenn Reid				RightBrain Software
 glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us		NeXT/PostScript developers
 ..{adobe,next}!heaven!glenn		415-851-1785 (fax 851-1470)