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Re: How can we evangelize PostScript?

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On Wednesday, June 1, 2016 at 7:02:29 PM UTC-5, Lawrence D’Oliveiro 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?'
> 
> 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 subsequent decades, and still use it occasionally for fun, I don’t think it’s so great any more.
> 
> As a language, it shows its age: for example, no lexical scoping of names. 

Hm. Yes. No "lexical scoping". But by exposing the dictionary as an 
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.
> 

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 <https://github.com/ldo/ti5x_android>, because I wanted something I could invoke from Python, but the available Pycairo binding didn’t do good font handling. Later I eventually did my own binding for Cairo <https://github.com/ldo/qahirah>, and I would use that if I were redoing the app.
> 

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 
> > breathe life into it and watch it fly around the room.
> 
> That’s the feeling I get working with Python these days.

I've been feeling the call from APL myself. But there's 
something about those legos. Imagination has to start 
somewhere, I suppose.

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How can we evangelize PostScript? luser- -droog <mijoryx@yahoo.com> - 2015-02-11 22:04 -0800
  Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> - 2015-02-12 03:09 -0500
    Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? zupftom@googlemail.com - 2015-02-26 03:58 -0800
      Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? jdaw1 <jdawiseman@gmail.com> - 2015-02-26 14:43 -0800
        Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-06-01 16:43 -0700
  Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? jdaw1 <jdawiseman@gmail.com> - 2015-02-12 01:36 -0800
  Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? James <jjpuzzles@wowway.com> - 2015-02-12 04:29 -0800
  Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Bogus@Embarq.com (Steve) - 2015-02-12 13:50 +0000
  Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Mark Carroll <mtbc@bcs.org> - 2015-02-15 15:27 +0000
    Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net> - 2015-02-15 19:20 -0500
    Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? jdaw1 <jdawiseman@gmail.com> - 2015-02-16 01:54 -0800
    Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? luser droog <luser.droog@gmail.com> - 2016-07-17 08:31 -0700
  Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? luser- -droog <mijoryx@yahoo.com> - 2015-02-28 00:52 -0800
  Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-06-01 17:02 -0700
    Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? luser- -droog <mijoryx@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-09 22:59 -0700
      Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-06-09 23:38 -0700
        Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Peter Billam <peter@www.pjb.com.au> - 2016-06-12 04:52 +0000
          Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-06-12 00:49 -0700
            Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? luser- -droog <mijoryx@yahoo.com> - 2016-06-12 01:38 -0700
              Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-06-12 02:31 -0700
        Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? luser droog <luser.droog@gmail.com> - 2016-11-02 08:22 -0700
          Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-11-05 18:21 -0700
            Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? luser droog <luser.droog@gmail.com> - 2016-11-09 18:34 -0800
  Re: How can we evangelize PostScript? Alan <alan.isaac@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 15:48 -0700

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