Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!ken
From: ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: input from files, postscript
Message-ID: <9340@sol.ARPA>
Date: 4 May 88 15:16:48 GMT
References: <1089@sask.UUCP> <2042@bgsuvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap)
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept, Rochester, NY
Lines: 19
Keywords: input, postscript

|Yes, PostScript does have the ability to input from files. It is a
|fully functional language. Should you use the PS functions to get
|your data? In my opinion no. You could attach your data to the
|end of a PS file and have the script read from the end of itself
|(if that makes sense ;-) but even that is going to greatly reduce
|the speed at which your final product is generated. The best way
|to go about it, I think, is the 'brute force' approach. Shove your
|data directly into the PS file as the arguments to specific operators.

I disagree. Do you propose I shove this bitmap screen dump of mine
into the code instead of using readhexstring? Have a look at any recent
raster to PS converter.  It would probably slow the thing down by
tripling the code size. There are reasons why bitmap dumps are slow but
inlining the data doesn't help.

And yes, it makes sense for the data to go at the end of a PS file.
Bit reminiscent of card jobs, no? :-)

	Ken