Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!haven!rutgers!att!homxb!homxc!roger
From: roger@homxc.ATT.COM (Another Technical Editor)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Trim down epsf
Keywords: EPSF filters convertor Adobe Illustrator
Message-ID: <6319@homxc.ATT.COM>
Date: 13 Apr 89 13:46:59 GMT
References: <2926@daisy.UUCP>
Organization: Somewhere In Jersey
Lines: 39

In article <2926@daisy.UUCP>, cplai@daisy.UUCP (Chung-Pang Lai) writes:

< (compares file size and printing speed of home-brew PostScript 
< vs.  Adobe Illustrator 88, which took 5x as much space and time)
< 
< This triggered several questions:
< 1.  Why does the Illustrator software dump out the full prolog, including
<     blah-blah-CustomColor...  blah-blah-cymkcolor...  while my
<     drawing doesn't even use any color?  Would it make the printing much
<     faster if the prolog is shrinked to what the "meat" (or the "script"
<     if put in PS jargon) of the file really asked for?  The software could 
<     keep track of what type of operations are being used in the file and dump 
<     out only the subset of prolog really needed.
< 
< 2.  In case that the creator is not care enough to improve, is there a post 
<     processor that trim EPSF down to the minimum?
< 
So why doesn't Adobe borrow a feature from compiler design and
link in only the procedures that make sense for a particular picture? 
It would significantly speed up downloading, postprocessing,
and execution in the printer. Heck, the software industry has
had smart linkers for years. 

I'm not trying to bash Adobe here. In fact, Adobe is, IMHO, 
probably about the only developer whose PostScript output
files are consistently clean enough to post-process at all.
MacDraw files require too much manual diddling, Cricket files are 
still mysterious, and I haven't tried anything from Aldus.

< .signature under construction ... 
< {pyramid, osu-cis, uunet, killer}!daisy!cplai    C.P. Lai
< cplai%daisy.UUCP@uunet.UU.NET   cplai%daisy@killer.DALLAS.TX.USA
< Daisy Systems Corp, 700B Middlefield Road, Mtn View CA 94039.  (415)960-6961


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Roger Tait                             ..att!homxc!roger
AT&T Bell Labs Technical Publications        Holmdel, NJ
"Abbie Hoffman is dead and I don't feel too good myself."