X-Received: by 10.129.102.87 with SMTP id a84mr141165ywc.15.1465538357323; Thu, 09 Jun 2016 22:59:17 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 10.157.27.100 with SMTP id l91mr2424otl.7.1465538357284; Thu, 09 Jun 2016 22:59:17 -0700 (PDT) Path: csiph.com!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01.blueworldhosting.com!peer01.iad.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!p34no4909460qgp.1!news-out.google.com!z5ni387qge.0!nntp.google.com!q32no5928902qgq.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2016 22:59:17 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <5b7781ce-c685-4a4b-bd22-4b78a0adccfe@googlegroups.com> Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=24.107.188.186; posting-account=G1KGwgkAAAAyw4z0LxHH0fja6wAbo7Cz NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.107.188.186 References: <5b7781ce-c685-4a4b-bd22-4b78a0adccfe@googlegroups.com> User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: Subject: Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? From: luser- -droog Injection-Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2016 05:59:17 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Received-Bytes: 3175 X-Received-Body-CRC: 2591836880 Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.postscript:2637 On Wednesday, June 1, 2016 at 7:02:29 PM UTC-5, Lawrence D=E2=80=99Oliveiro= wrote: > On Thursday, February 12, 2015 at 7:04:22 PM UTC+13, luser- -droog wrote: > > It's happened to me many, many times that I find myself > > trying to explain to someone (usually, a non-programmer) > > 'what's so great about postscript?' >=20 > Speaking as someone who got to play with an Apple LaserWriter (the first = model) in 1986, and who did a lot of (paid) PostScript work over the subseq= uent decades, and still use it occasionally for fun, I don=E2=80=99t think = it=E2=80=99s so great any more. >=20 > As a language, it shows its age: for example, no lexical scoping of names= .=20 Hm. Yes. No "lexical scoping". But by exposing the dictionary as an=20 object, it gives you total control over where named are stored and when they are visible. >The graphics model was pioneering for its day, and highly influential. But= other graphics engines nowadays do it all, and do it better, e.g. Cairo. >=20 What does cairo do that postscript doesn't? > When I was learning Android programming, I used PostScript to render the = graphics for one of my apps , because = I wanted something I could invoke from Python, but the available Pycairo bi= nding didn=E2=80=99t do good font handling. Later I eventually did my own b= inding for Cairo , and I would use that if = I were redoing the app. >=20 Very cool. starred. > > The best I've come up with is: It's like playing with > > Lego(tm) blocks with magic words written on them. > > You can build a toy out of basic parts and then=20 > > breathe life into it and watch it fly around the room. >=20 > That=E2=80=99s the feeling I get working with Python these days. I've been feeling the call from APL myself. But there's=20 something about those legos. Imagination has to start=20 somewhere, I suppose.