Article View: comp.lang.postscript
Article #9088Re: PostScript Language
From: gillies
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1990 17:38
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1990 17:38
27 lines
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1655 bytes
> Putting a real live interpreter inside the printer was a stroke of
> genius.
Remark: Too bad they didn't consider putting a compiler in the printer.
I agree that "clone" is a stupid term to use. PC's don't execute C
clones, the 2nd PASCAL compiler was not a PASCAL clone, etc etc ad
infinitum.
Adobe has set a dangerous precedent by releasing a language that was
part proprietary, part public-domain. Too bad they didn't have the
smarts to make the entire language public-domain.
Interpress failed because Xerox sat on it for several years ( >3).
Postscript forced Xerox to wake up and smell the coffee, too late.
Interpress theoretically has an ascii form, but the language went
further and specified a compiled binary form, which was a case of the
designers being too sure of themselves for their own good 8-).
This is probably a case of the fabled "second system" effect, where
they second version of something does *everything* and becomes a
hulking behemoth.
Don Gillies, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois
1304 W. Springfield, Urbana, Ill 61801
ARPA: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu UUCP: {uunet,harvard}!uiucdcs!gillies
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies From: gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: PostScript Language Message-ID: <99500022@p.cs.uiuc.edu> Date: 27 Feb 90 17:38:59 GMT References: <9447@imagen.UUCP> Lines: 27 Nf-ID: #R:imagen.UUCP:9447:p.cs.uiuc.edu:99500022:000:1147 Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies Feb 26 17:14:00 1990