Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!intercon!news From: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript Subject: Re: Using a postscript printer for previewing? Message-ID: <1637@intercon.com> Date: 18 Dec 89 17:18:25 GMT References: <28@macuni.mqcc.mq.oz> <1634@intercon.com> <17459@rpp386.cactus.org> Sender: news@intercon.com Reply-To: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation Lines: 56 Urrrkh. Woody, you're starting to sound like Don :-). What's the big secret? Anyone with a modicum of intelligence who looks at an unencrypted Adobe font can figure out what the purpose of most of it is. With all of Don's emphasis on "pixel locking" and so on, I'm surprised he hasn't written an article about FlxProc and shown how it actually works, and how such techniques can be useful in general in PostScript programming, rather than just saying "look at what I found." Look, I respect him as an engineer and a writer. I've got several of his books on the shelf next to my desk, for example, and I think his "Incredible Secret Money Machine" is one of the best books on being a technology entrepreneur that has ever been written. I also think his columns talking about alternative binding methods and printing materials are very well done and are a distinct service to the on-demand publishing community. However, when he starts talking about PostScript itself, he seems to go off into left field (sort of like the the Monty Python skit where the guy puts a bag over his head whenever someone says "matress" :-)). After reading his columns for several years I still haven't figured out what axe he's trying to grind against Adobe, beyond "they didn't want me to take it apart," which sounds a little childish even from a hacker from way back. Sigh. Maybe I just don't have enough sense of the mysteriousness of PostScript, but all of the things that Don takes so much glee in "revealing" seem quite straightforward to me, such as: - Deglitching Bezier contours in device space (FlxProc) - Rounding overall font parameters in device space (BlueValues et al.) - Compensating for characteristics of the marking engine (Erosion functions and parameters) - Factoring out common features such as serifs, bows, and so on (Subrs) - Encoding glyph contours and composite characters in as compact a format as possible (Subrs and CharStrings) - Fulfilling license agreements with typeface manufacturers to prevent people from easily obtaining outline representations of characters (encrypted fonts and the infamous charpath "lockout" on pathforall). These aren't evil, secret things, folks... These are things that *should* be in an sophisticated page imaging system. The main reason that I'm waiting with bated breath for the Type 1 font format description isn't so that I can peek at Adobe fonts, or because it's a "secret finally seeing the light of day," but because it will give me the tool I need to build fonts that are both "hinted" and compact, at the same time. One thing I do get irritated about is reinventing wheels :-)... If I want to satisfy my hackerish impulses, I can think of a lot more rewarding things to take apart than my laser printer's intepreter... Grumble. Amanda Walker InterCon Systems Corporation --