PostScript(R) Language Reference Manual (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

Adobe Systems Inc (Author), Ed Taft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1990 | Series: Adobe Systems Incorporated

The PostScript language has fueled a revolution in the world of visual communications. This powerful and flexible language efficiently describes the appearance of text, sampled images, and graphics on a printed page or display. PostScript language interpreters have been incorporated into some of today's most innovative printers, typesetters, film records, and computer display environments. The PostScript Language Reference Manual from Adobe Systems Incorporated is the official reference to the PostScript language. This entirely new and up-to-date Second Edition offers the most comprehensive coverage of the entire PostScript language, including the recent advancements of PostScript Level 2. The PostScript Language Reference Manual, contains the complete semantics of every PostScript language operator, the Display PostScript System, PostScript Level 1 (the original PostScript language), and PostScript Level 2, the first major revision to the language since its release in 1985.PostScript Level 2 incorporates recent extensions to the language and many new features including: *CMYK color *Composite fonts *Forms *Patterns *Color separations *Resource management *New memory management *Improved screening algorithms *Data compression/decompression *Support for printer-specific features *Device-independent, CIE-based color *Optimized text and graphics operators As PostScript continues to be the industry standard page description language for imaging high-quality text and graphics, the PostScript Language Reference Manual, remains the definitive resource for all PostScript language programmers. 0201181274B04062001

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Programmers who specialize in PostScript, the page-description language, now have a newly updated reference guide for LanguageLevel 3. PostScript® Language Reference starts off with a bit of history on the language and an overview of the new version. It goes on to cover basic topics such as raster output devices, scan conversion, and page-description languages in general.

PostScript® Language Reference provides an overview of how to use the PostScript interpreter and understand the ideal structure of PostScript page descriptions. The book covers the heart of the language, including syntax, data types and objects, stacks, execution, basic operators, memory management, file input/output (I/O), functions, errors, and filtered-files and binary-encoding details. Subsequent chapters cover graphics, fonts, device control, rendering, and operators.

The appendices include a LanguageLevel feature summary, implementation limits, interpreter parameters, compatibility issues, character sets, encoding vectors, system-name encodings, and operator-usage guidelines. There's also a bibliography with additional reading recommendations. --Kathleen Caster --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

communications. This powerful and flexible language efficiently describes the appearance of text, sampled images, and graphics on a printed page or display. PostScript language interpreters have been incorporated into some of today's most innovative printers, typesetters, film records, and computer display environments.

The PostScript Language Reference Manual from Adobe Systems Incorporated is the official reference to the PostScript language. This entirely new and up-to-date Second Edition offers the most comprehensive coverage of the entire PostScript language, including the recent advancements of PostScript Level 2.

The PostScript Language Reference Manual, contains the complete semantics of every PostScript language operator, the Display PostScript System, PostScript Level 1 (the original PostScript language), and PostScript Level 2, the first major revision to the language since its release in 1985. PostScript Level 2 incorporates recent extensions to the language and many new features including:

• CMYK color
• Composite fonts
• Forms
• Patterns
• Color separations
• Resource management
• New memory management
• Improved screening algorithms
• Data compression/decompression
• Support for printer-specific features
• Device-independent, CIE-based color
• Optimized text and graphics operators

As PostScript continues to be the industry standard page description language for imaging high-quality text and graphics, the PostScript Language Reference Manual, remains the definitive resource for all PostScript language programmers.

0201181274B04062001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 784 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 2nd edition (January 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201181274
• ISBN-13: 978-0201181272
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,506,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars new version is out., August 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: PostScript(R) Language Reference Manual (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

Be carefull. This book describes LanguageLevel 2. There is a new version out that describes LanguageLevel 3.(1999 version)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reference, August 8, 2000

By 

James A. Johnson (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PostScript® Language Reference (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

This manual - the 'Red Book' - is absolutely necessary for programming in PostScript. It is the only complete reference guide to the language, and is so well-organized and thorough that no one else even bothers to publish a complete third-party guide. Many other books have been published on PostScript - and many are excellent - but they are books you will buy in addition to, rather than instead of, this manual. We can only wish that other software manuals were as well-written.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Indespensible but Downloadable, February 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: PostScript® Language Reference (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

If you're like me and just need to do a little bit with the language, you will need this book but you might want to consider downloading it directly from Adobe. They have it, in its entirety, in pdf format. (Why not postscript?!) On the otherhand, if you are going to be using this language alot, you will probably just want to buy the book seeing how an 897 page pdf is a bit unweildy.