Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!rochester!bukys@cs.rochester.edu
From: bukys@cs.rochester.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: a plea
Message-ID: <9103191412.AA27314@stork.cs.rochester.edu>
Date: 19 Mar 91 14:12:33 GMT
Sender: root@cs.rochester.edu (Charlie Root)
Organization: Computer Science Department University of Rochester
Lines: 29

This is a futile plea, I know, but here it is.

	Please stamp out bad PostScript generators.

It seems like half of the Postscript files my users pick up off the net
are unprintable.

Sub-pleas:

	Don't mark the file conformant if it's not.
	How many times have I pasted in a plain "%!" to prevent
	my spooler from trying to page-reverse (and hence mangle)
	a file that is really non-conformant.

	Don't use printer-specific features without testing for
	their existence.  My most recent specimen here was the
	use of "a4".

	Don't depend on a being able to do an "exitserver".
	Those Macintosh "LaserPrep" files are one of the most
	ill-conceived notions around.  Do they really save that much
	time?

	Don't put unnecessary memory allocation inside a loop.  I just
	ran across this:
		{ currentfile 1 string readhexstring pop } image
	which allocates a 1-byte string (in this case, 262144 times).

Thank you for listening.