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> "IntrePress treats each page as an entity unto itself.  No command or
> statement from one page can affect another.  This is possible in
> PostScript, but isn't manadtory.  This unique InterPress feature allows
> you to print a document with the pages out of numeric or sequential
> order.  It is a terrific feature if you're printing duplexed pages on a
> laser printer."
> 
> How does this work in PostScript, and do all laser printers understand
> this parameter?  If not, what do they do with it?

PostScript has a *convention* that allows you to do this.  It's called the
"structuring convention" and it allows you to structure a document using
comments into a prolog and separate pages.  If done correctly (see devps
or TranScript for programs that produce structured PostScript files), the
file can be split into separate jobs, reversed, pages selected, etc.
The only drawback with this is that programs that don't conform to this
convention can't be handled properly.  Obviously, there's a double-edged
sword here:  PostScript gives you lots of flexibility in how your pages
can be set up (you're not *restricted* to someone else's idea of page
interdependence as you are with InterPress), but at the same time, you have
to make a special effort (as must any postprocessors) to make your pages
independent of each other.  I prefer having the flexibility myself, as there
are times when pages simply have interdependencies.


Pat Wood
Editor, The PostScript Language Journal
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