Introduction - Part 0

[showmyiq]

PostScript is very mystic and cryptic programming language. I was really perplexed when I first saw it. It is mainly used for drawing graphics and animations. On the other hand the logic behind is so interesting and provoking! It is really a brain storm when you need to write some major informatics issues under PostScript. You can look on these chapters not only like something that will help you understand the basics concepts of PostScript, but good puzzle platforms too.

But let’s cut the common talking and proceed with the core. First you need to realize that PostScript is not similar to other well-known languages. It is stack-based language. Imagine you have a pile of books in front of you – at the bottom you have book A, on A you have book B, and so on. At the top you have book Z. You are not able to pull out book A if you didn’t pulled out book B. If you continue this logic, you are not able to pull out book B if you didn’t pulled out book C and so on. At the end you will reach the conclusion that reaching any book is complicated procedure and no matter what book you want to read, you need to remove book Z as a start.

Maybe you have played Towers Of Hanoi? It’s the same principle. You need to remove the higher discs in order to reach the lower ones. Stack-Based procedures. Last in – First out ( LIFO).
No matter what you are going to write/draw – never forget this!

We will continue with the Theory, but let’s first install and set up the PostScript programs we are going to use. In the next chapter, we are going to discuss which programs we need, how to install them, how to use them and all the other details, which I personally experienced difficulties to find in Internet.