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From: henry@angel.Eng.Sun.COM (Henry McGilton)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: other page description languages
Summary: What Can One Say
Message-ID: <603@appserv.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 24 May 91 16:37:31 GMT
References: <1538@h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu> <1991May24.044839.9063@chinacat.unicom.com>
Sender: news@appserv.Eng.Sun.COM
Lines: 44

In article <1991May24.044839.9063@chinacat.unicom.com>,
    woody@chinacat.unicom.com (Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) writes:
    *  In article <1538@h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu>
	    arnold@cs.wvu.wvnet.edu (Gregory Arnold) writes:

	**  . . . summer course that deals with the postscript language.
	**  One of the requirements of this course is a paper that compares
	**  postscript to other page description languages.  Would some kind
	**  soul please give me some . . .

    *  Well, there is the pre-cursor to Postscript, IMPRESS.
ImPress was a Document/Page Description Language designed and
implemented by Imagen Corporation for controlling their original
printers.  ImPress syntax was somewhat influenced by Scribe, and was
not postfix like Postscript.  ImPress did not have outline scalable
fonts -- it shipped bitmap fonts to the printer.  The genealogy of
ImPress was different enough from JaM-InterPress-PostScript that you
could not call it a pre-cursor, or even a precursor.

Following ImPress, Imagen Corp designed a language called DDL
(Document Description Language) in an abortive attempt to head
of PostScript.  Hewlett Packard later `endorsed' DDL, for
whatever effect that had on the marketplace.  As I pointed out in 
a posting long ago, the success of PostScript can be judged by the
number of street corner print shops proclaiming `PostScript Spoke
Here', versus the number of such shops advertising ImPress, InterPress,
DDL, or LaserLanguage.

You might also want to look into PCL (Printer Control Language).

    *  There is Kyocera's printer controller language, and there is
    *  QUICK. (a QMS Printer language).  These are all "Page
Isn't that just QUIC?
    *  description" languages of a sort, but with the exeption of
    *  IMPRESS fall well short of anything that Postscript can do.

I believe that AST Research also had something called LaserLanguage.

If my aging memory serves me correctly, the precursor to PostScript
was InterPress -- a Xerox Corporation language designed by the same
people who eventually ended up designing PostScript.  I'm sure the
`experts' out there will correct me if I am wrong.

	........  Henry