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From: smithda@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu (Daniel Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.fonts,comp.text,comp.lang.postscript
Subject: METAFONT & PostScript
Message-ID: <902@cps3xx.UUCP>
Date: 19 Oct 88 18:47:34 GMT
Sender: usenet@cps3xx.UUCP
Reply-To: smithda@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu (Daniel Smith)
Organization: Michigan State University, Computer Science Department
Lines: 53

As I was working on installing a new DVI driver to handle resident
PostScript font, I began to think about the relationship between
METAFONT and PostScript.  It occured to me that the two do about the 
same thing, its just that they do it at different times.  METAFONT
translates source code describing fonts into bit maps, and so
does PostScript.  The difference is that PostScript does it when the
document is printed, and METAFONT does it when the font itself is
created.  

I began to wonder if anyone has tried to make METAFONT spit out
PostScipt outline fonts?  Such a scheme would seem to combine the best
of both worlds.  METAFONT is a real programming language, written by
a computer scientist.  This makes is "easy" to describe
fonts accurately and formally.  PostScript on the otherhand
is not very easy to read.  While it is possible to make sense out
of PostScript code, it is not as good as METAFONT.  

Here is a list of pros and cons for such a scheme:

METAFONT doing just what it does now:
   * The fonts produced will work on just about ANY printer.  One
     does not need a PostScript printer to use TeX/METAFONT.
   * However, these fonts take up A LOT of disk space, espically
     when compared to PostScript fonts.  For example, a PostScript
     outline for for say Times-Roman is basically one file.  That is
     one file for ALL sizes of Times-Roman, for ALL device resolutions.
     Since the PostScript software in each printer has "lots of smarts"
     this method works.
   * DVI drivers are non-trivial pieces of software.  Each driver must
     deal with the bitmaps in the GF/PK/PXL files and convert those
     to a scheme for the current printer.

METAFONT producing PostScript
   * A LARGE savings in disk space can be realized, because very few
     files are required for a font.
   * Of course, the output is only of use to those who have PostScript
     printers.
   * PostScript is fast becoming a standard for desktop-publishing.
   * Writing a DVI driver is quite simple.  One no longer needs to
     deal with bitmaps of fonts.  The DVI file and TFM files for the
     fonts are all that are needed.  In some cases, the TFM may not
     even be necessary.
   * TeX fonts (Computer Modern) behave just like any other
     PostScript font.
=========================================================================
J. Daniel Smith                           smithda@cpsvax.cps.msu.edu
Michigan State University

"An average English word is four letters and a half.  By hard, honest
labor I've dug all the large words out of my vocabulary and shaved it 
down till the average is three and a half..."
      Mark Twain
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