Talk:PostScript
is ps a really a programming language???
I don't thing ps is a programming language!
- I don't think you've tried writing it by hand, otherwise you would know it's a programming language. --Zundark 15:21, 20 Jun 2004 (UTC)
- Yeah, Go and look at Fibonacci number program's PS example. Dysprosia 22:52, 20 Jun 2004 (UTC)
- Or the PS-HTTPD [1].
How much was PostScript design influenced by FORTH?
Can some language history expert please tell (and substantiate) whether PostScript design is just similar to Forth or was it derived from it to some extent? BACbKA 10:40, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)
- They're both stack based programming languages, so they're bound to look similar. The RPN style was chosen since it's supposed to be optimised for machine handling. Dysprosia 10:48, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)
- Answering my own question: according to [2], the design was a little bit influenced, but the implementation paradigm was completely independent. BACbKA 12:52, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)
PostScript origins
"The language had its beginnings in 1976 at the Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation, where it was known as the `Design System'... Although the Design System language and its successors bear a superficial resemblance to the FORTH programming language, their conception and development were entirely independent of FORTH."
Postscript language reference manual, Adobe Systems Incorporated, 1985
There is no question that PostScript is a real programming language. It is Turing-complete, and furthermore it can do console I/O and file I/O, and it does graphics Really Well. It is not a markup language like HTML, XML, SGML, TeX, LaTeX, or PDF. Those languages are not Turing-complete (to the best of my knowledge, although TeX/LaTeX may be).