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From: pallas@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Joe Pallas)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Adobe makes its point (was points and rulers)
Message-ID: <1990Jan16.183722.20584@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 16 Jan 90 18:37:22 GMT
References: <21772@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> <1990Jan14.180821.18711@trigraph.uucp>
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Lines: 26

Have any of you so-called PostScript wizards actually read the manual
before you started flaming?  Adobe does not claim that there are 72
points to an inch:

    The length of a unit along the x axis and along the y axis is 1/72 of
    an inch.  We call this coordinate system {\em default user space}.

    These features of default user space are chosen for their mathematical
    simplicity and convenience.  The unit size, 1/72 of an inch, is very
    close to the size of a printer's point (1/72.27 inch), which is a
    standard measuring unit used in the printing industry.

	---PostScript Language Reference Manual (aka The Red Book), p. 61.

Now, just because a bunch of dimwits have written brain-damaged
applications that presume the default unit is a point doesn't mean
that Adobe is confused about the matter.

On the other hand, the fact is that the LaserWriter's default
idle-time font scan conversion generates fonts at 9.96264, 11.955168,
and 13.947696 points, which are pretty useless UNLESS you're using one
of those brain-damaged applications.  And the LaserWriter appendix,
which is not part of the language specification, does slip up and
claim that those sizes are 10, 12, and 14 points.

joe