Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!esosun!hyland From: hyland@esosun.UUCP (Steve Hyland) Newsgroups: comp.windows.news Subject: Re: LispScript Message-ID: <96@kvasir.esosun.UUCP> Date: Tue, 1-Dec-87 13:17:55 EST Article-I.D.: kvasir.96 Posted: Tue Dec 1 13:17:55 1987 Date-Received: Fri, 4-Dec-87 20:52:56 EST References: <17331.8711281826@aiva.ed.ac.uk> <833@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> Reply-To: hyland@kvasir.UUCP (Steve Hyland) Organization: SAIC, San Diego Lines: 48 In article <833@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> des@jplpro.JPL.NASA.GOV (David Smyth) writes: >I was hoping it wasn't just me! How many others HATE postscript? >I'll summarize to the net. I don't HATE PostScript, but I agree that it is unsuitable for humans to describe a page or document. >Also, what would be a better language? PostScript reminds me of an >intermediate language generated by a compiler, not a language suitable >for human beings to think in. I propose a new language which is high >level, and is then compiled into postscript, with appropriate calls >to dbg for source level (NOT PostScript) debugging. PostScript SHOULD be an intermediate language, albeit one generated by an application such as an editor, in which users can design a page. I think, for the most part, it is used primarily this way. I don't know many people who sit down and design a document by writing a PostScript program. I think you are confusing the end and the means. >If you can't think of a specific language (I vote for C, or something >very much like C), indicate what language capabilities should be there. Not to trash C or anything, but why on earth would I want to discard PostScript for a language which is easily as terse as PostScript. If you happen to program in C, you might find it very natural to describe a document in a C-like language. I don't program in C, I program in Ada. However, I'm not going to propose Ada as a candidate, because it would still require humans to be fluent in that particular language to do something as natural as describing a document. If you want a specific language, I think natural language is the sensible alternative, although difficult to implement. What would be better than: :Center the page number at the bottom of the page. :Center the following text and draw a box around it. Some text to put on the page. :Make three copies or something like that. Even this approach is not nearly as effective as the WYSIWYG editors that have proliferated and which are capable of printing on a PostScript printer. Steve Hyland SAIC