A First Guide to PostScript

Caution!

This web document is very much a work in progress. While I hope to have it completed by the end of the summer, there are still things I would like to do and aspects I wish to polish. In particular, I would like to add some more examples, talk about some advanced programming tricks, and maybe delve somewhat into Level 2 features.

This current version is a revision over the original I published two years ago. Most of the work done so far has been on the collection of operators. I have placed them on one page (so they may be browsed more easily), and I believe I have chased and filled in all the empty links of the original document. I have also worked to bring the document more in line with new HTML features and practices.

Incidentally, if you read this document and find an error, please send me e-mail and let me know. I can't promise that I'll fix it right away, but I will at least add it to my list of things to do.

By the way, I wish to thank the many people who have written to point out errors in this document's predecessor. Many of the improvements are due to them. For those of you asking for a LaTeX version of this document, it is coming, I promise. :-)

About this Document

 This is meant to be a simple introduction to programming in the PostScript page description language from Adobe. This document is not meant to be a comprehensive reference manual (although it does contain an index of some of PostScript's standard operators and a list of various errors). There are far better reference books, if this is what you need. Instead, this is meant as an easily accessible on-line tutorial. It was written with the assumption that you have some experience programming and are familiar with concepts like arrays and variables.

I have created this document because I have noticed that many people on the Internet have been asking for some online document to get them started. I decided that this was a good opportunity.

Contents

Note

 PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. The copyright to the PostScript language is also held by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Legal questions concerning these issues should be directed to them.

Disclaimer

No warranty or guarantee, either expressed or implied, is made as to the correctness of this document. The author can not be held responsible for any damages that may occur through the use of any code contained herein.

You get what you paid for.

That noted, permission to copy freely all information within this document is granted free of charge, so long as the original author is acknowledged.

eweingar@cs.indiana.edu
 22 June 1995