xyWrite & PostScript / long!!!

[OkAnnie@xxxxxxxx]

dkanagy@xxxxxxxx (Dan Kanagy) writes:

:   Where would I find a PS interpreter for the HP 4L?

:   Actually, my "typesetting" needs are pretty simple.
:   Being able to use typographer's quotes, arithmetic
:   symbols, and the macron (and being able to write
:   the occasional German or French proper name)
:   would cover most situations I've run into until now.
:   The 7J symbol set on the HP printer will likely do for
:   the moment. But then, who knows what sort of work
:   I'll be asked to do into the future.

Hi, Dan. Here's something to file away for that future day,
written on a lazy, snowy Saturday. --annie

====================================================

When Adobe wrote the PostScript language it set out to own
publishing typographically. It has fairly well succeeded. But
Adobe has failed miserably in one area, public education.
Confusion is so widespread I'll outline some
PostScript basics as well as offer xyWrite and interpreter notes
and pecifics--and one pointless harangue.

PostScript is an interpreted computer language. The interpreter
can be software--like the familiar BASIC interpreter--or
hardware. "PostScript printers" more precisely are printers with
a PS interpreter embedded on a chip inside.

An app's driver writes source code for the interpreter, whether
hardware or software; the driver is in effect a robot PostScript
programmer. PS source code, like any computer language's source
code, is ascii. PS hardware processes code entirely within the
printer. PS software uses the CPU to interpret it, then invokes
the printer. Software interpreters have drivers for all popular
laser, inkjet, and dot matrix printers--certainly all HP
printers--and also often have a driver that prints to your screen
the interpreter's translation of the code.

PS has become the publishing industry standard as *the* interface
for microcomputers primarily because of the high quality and wide
variety of PS
Type 1 fonts and the language's near-limitless ability to
manipulate them as well as graphics. I'm hard put to imagine that
Type 1 fonts are unavailable for any printed language. (I've
tacked on a list of entries in a typical coding table for the
Type 1 standard Roman character set.) Adobe Type Manager
(windows/os2/mac) lets office printers use Type 1 fonts but
doesn't do graphics; i.e., it's not an interpreter. PS's rivals,
PCL and True Type fonts, are corporate printing utilities not
used in the publishing industry.

Each app handles PS in its own way. Its use of the language is as
good as the custom instructions to the interpreter in its PS
printer driver "prolog"--in xyW, the printer driver's FB<. Or as
bad. Buggy prologs cause the headaches commonly associated with
PS. The more you know of the language, the better armed you are
to confront problems.

Bookshelf =======================================

Everybody's favorite primer is Ross Smith's "Learning PostScript: a Visual
Approach" (Peachpit Press). ... The bible is "the red book," Adobe Systems
Inc.'s "PostScript Language Reference Manual, second edition" (Addison-Wesley). ... The
book that best fills the gap between--imho--is the
McGilton-Campione "PostScript by Example" (Addison-Wesley). ...
A-W publishes a few other sanctioned PS books, but Peachpit PS
books are generally more accessible and useful.

Interpreters ==========================================

Software PS interpreters interact with apps in different ways.
One freeware PS interpreter is online and several commercial interpreters are
on the market. The commercial interpreters can be had in "lite"
versions with the basic 13 fonts at under $100. Tip: Adobe Type 1
fonts are top quality and priced that way. Bargain-priced
SoftMaker definiType (ex-Infinitype) fonts are of comparable
quality. ... Ghostscript is the only interpreter I have a
'net address for; other addresses may be out of date.

Ghostscript and a number of Ghostscript Type 1 fonts are online.
Ghostscript is billed upfront as "not for the faint of heart."
Much talk of patches, user compiles, and frequent red flags in
comp.lang.postscript and gnu.ghostscript.bugs. While many swear
at it, a lot of folks swear by it. I have information on Windows
Ghostscript if anyone wants it. Primary DOS archive site:

   ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/pub/ghost
   DOS executables also available from the simtel archive
WWW home page:
   http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/index.html

QMS developed UltraScript when laser and PS prices were
stratospheric, probably as a bargain alternative to hardware PS
for QMS laser buyers. When prices dropped, QMS sold UltraScript.
You can use Adobe or any other Type 1 fonts with any interpreter,
but UltraScript's distinction is that it's bundled with Type 1
fonts licensed from Adobe. I saw some exquisite work a book
designer was doing with WPWin, Windows UltraScript, and a non-PS
HP4--no dtp software at all. He had a slew of gorgeous fonts he'd
bought from the current publisher.

   PM Ware Inc.
   346 State Place
   Escondido, California 92029-1365, US
   1-800-845-4843

Only one interpreter seemed to have much money behind it and has
been marketed aggressively in recent years (Windows version color
ads, catalog listings, the only one I've seen on software store shelves). ColorAge
(ex-Custom Applications) of--would you believe--Billerica
publishes Freedom of Press. I was surprised a few days ago to
come across this in Usenet responding to a query about it:
:   If you're on a Windoze platform,
:   ColorAge isn't supporting it anymore.
:   Try Z-Script by Zenographics.
I don't know whether this is true and know nothing about
Z-Script--but I haven't been watching closely lately.

   ColorAge Inc.
   Building 8
   900 Technology Park Drive
   Billerica, Massachusetts 01821, US
   508-667-8585

LaserGo's GoScript was the pioneer and is the only PS interpreter I've used.
Long ago, when the trade press still paid attention to software
PS interpreters, GoScript didn't score as well as FoP and US in
some torture tests (intricate mandalas and such). I've fed
GoScript some very large jobs, and never had the slightest
problem with its translation of graphics or anything else. To
preview or print, you TYF with an Apple LaserWriter (or
comparable) driver, then call the interpreter from the command
line (with protected mode GS 32, from the xyW command line).
Although I've bought an HP4
PS printer and now *print* only tabloid-size inkjet proofs with
GoScript, I couldn't live without its previewer and interactive
programming environment.
I believe that only GoScript and Ghostscript offer this feature.
It's great for learning PS and for debugging--type code on the
left side of a split screen and when you execute each line watch
the interpreter translate to the right side; execute "quit" and
get bounced back to xyW.

   LaserGo Inc.
   9369 Carroll Park Drive, Suite A
   San Diego, California 92121, US
   voice: 619-450-4600
   fax: 619-450-9334
   bbs: 619-450-9370 (8-1-N)

xyWrite as PS front end ================================

Software PS interpreters and xyW 3 are perfect complements. A
complex XPL macro I wrote integrates my interpreter seamlessly.
Tapping a supershifted function key shells out to print, preview,
or program interactively.

With or without an interactive programming environment, a
previewer effectively turns xyWrite into a PS programming editor,
a front end for a PS interpreter. To use the language it's
certainly not necessary to go to this length but start with a
graphical letterhead, and one thing leads to another.
... xyW and a previewer make getting in deeper so natural it's
hard to resist.

Being able to grow your own printer driver opens up xyW to *all*
of PS. After adding some type-handling procedures to a major
Windows graphics app's PS prolog, I made it my xyW PS driver's
FB<. I can write original graphics code in xyW or TYF a file with
xyW's PS driver and, before printing, edit or merge other code,
preview and debug. I wonder often if I could *possibly* be alone
in using xyWrite this way.

On soapbox =========================================

Given the common use of xyWrite and PostScript in publishing, one more boat
Xyquest marketing missed back when was beaming in on integration of the two.
Software interpreters have been around since the mid-'80s. I've
used a PS software interpreter for a graphical preview since
before Signature was released, and from my xyW command line since
before v4 was released. XPL incompatibility with v3 turned me off
v4, and my PS previewer made uninstalling v4 an easy choice.
Integrating a PS software interpreter at the right time, or
selling one as an add-on, with bulletproof drivers, would have
been a dexterous Xyquest move.

Font encoding =======================================

"Standard Roman character set" common encoding vector diacritical
marks and typographic characters can be added to or subtracted
from PS prologs (xyW printer driver: FB< ). They must be matched
in the substitution table.

   Aacute aacute acircumflex Acircumflex acute acute Adieresis adieresis AE ae Agrave agrave
Aring aring Atilde atilde
   bar breve brokenbar
   caron ccedilla Ccedilla cedilla cedilla circumflex circumflex
   dieresis dieresis dotaccent dotlessi
   Eacute eacute Ecircumflex ecircumflex Edieresis edieresis Egrave egrave Eth eth exclamdown
   germandbls grave guillemotleft guillemotright guilsinglleft guilsinglright
   hungarumlaut
   Iacute iacute Icircumflex icircumflex Idieresis idieresis igrave Igrave
   macron
   ntilde Ntilde
   Oacute oacute Ocircumflex ocircumflex odieresis Odieresis
   ogonek Ograve ograve ordfeminine ordmasculine Oslash oslash Otilde otilde
   periodcentered
   questiondown quotedblbase quotesinglbase
   ring
   Scaron scaron
   thorn Thorn tilde tilde
   Uacute uacute ucircumflex Ucircumflex udieresis Udieresis Ugrave ugrave
   Yacute yacute ydieresis Ydieresis

   ellipsis emdash endash hyphen OE oe quotedblleft quotedblright quoteleft quoteright
quotesingle space
   bullet dagger daggerdbl paragraph section
   copyright registered trademark
   degree divide multiply onequarter onehalf threequarters onesuperior twosuperior threesuperior
perthousand plusminus logicalnot mu currency florin yen

==================== annie fisher | nyc | okAnnie@xxxxxxxx