Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!decwrl!adobe!jeynes
From: jeynes@adobe.COM (Ross A. Jeynes)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: seeing dictionary names
Message-ID: <1997@adobe.UUCP>
Date: 19 Mar 90 01:19:47 GMT
References: <7986@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu> <3295@hcx1.SSD.CSD.HARRIS.COM> <1085@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG> <1093@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG>
Reply-To: jeynes@adobe.UUCP (Ross A. Jeynes)
Distribution: na
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View
Lines: 26

In article <1093@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG> woody@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG (Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) writes:
>in it's own dictionary.  It was filling up userdict.  BUT...Maxlength
>reports 180 entries for userdict, the documentation says 200.  I have
>not found any mention of the fact that there are apparently 20 entries
>that are reserved.  When a dictionary is documented as holding 200 entries,
>maxlength should return 200......

Whose documentation says that userdict has 200 entries?  This is an 
implementation dependent limit.  If your program is making a lot of 
definitions, you should either use maxlength to find out how many entries 
there really are available, or create your own dictionary, since someone 
could have downloaded something outside the server loop that took up some 
slots.

If it's the manufacturer's documentation that specifies 200 entries for 
userdict and maxlength is returning 180, send them a bug report.  (Or send
me a bug report and I'll forward it to QA.)  

If it is the Red Book that you are citing, please realize that the limits 
listed in Appendix B are _typical_ implementation limits, and not values
that are set in Stone (so to speak) for every printer.


Ross Jeynes              
Developer Support                                           jeynes@adobe.com
Adobe Systems Incorporated                         {sun|decwrl}!adobe!jeynes