Re: Compiled PostScript

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Article #8761

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#8761

From: Dick Dunn
Date: Tue, 09 Jan 1990 04:19

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woody@rpp386.cactus.org (Woodrow Baker) writes:
> ...  I challenge you to pinpoint *ANY* major deficiency of PS for 
> general purpose programming...

The language has latent types and dynamic binding.  This introduces an
inherent inefficiency which will become objectionable in any program for
which the execution time of the average primitive operator reaches the same
order of magnitude as the execution time required to determine the types of
operands and construct the result descriptor.  If you fuss about formal
checking, you'll also note that the type-correctness of a program cannot be
checked until execution time.

These limitations are inherent.
-- 
Dick Dunn     rcd@ico.isc.com    uucp: {ncar,nbires}!ico!rcd     (303)449-2870
   ...Mr. Natural says, "Use the right tool for the job."

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Message-ID: <1990Jan9.041946.18083@ico.isc.com>

Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ames!ncar!ico!rcd

References: <POLLACK.89Dec4133944@toto.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1666@intercon.com> <17581@rpp386.cactus.org>

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ames!ncar!ico!rcd
From: rcd@ico.isc.com (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Compiled PostScript
Summary: OK, here's a deficiency (for the nth time!)
Message-ID: <1990Jan9.041946.18083@ico.isc.com>
Date: 9 Jan 90 04:19:46 GMT
References: <POLLACK.89Dec4133944@toto.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1666@intercon.com> <17581@rpp386.cactus.org>
Organization: Interactive Systems Corporation, Boulder, CO
Lines: 16

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