Creating LaTeX documents
PostScript file
(e.g., MyDoc.ps)
PostScript
is a page-description language,
created by Adobe Systems Incorporated
back in the 1980s.
PostScript can describe a picture as a rectangular
array of dots -- a ``bitmap image'' format like PNG or JPEG --
but it can do much more. It can describe diagrams in terms
of lines, colors, shapes and fonts, and geometric transformations.
It is up to the printer (or the computer)
to interpret the PostScript commands to the
degree of precision appropriate to the quality of the printer.
PostScript can be interpreted and displayed on the computer monitor
by programs like
ghostscript,
or Adobe's own products Acrobat Distiller.
Printing and Previewing
On Unix systems you can print a PostScript file with the
lp or lpr command, e.g.,
unix> lp MyDoc.ps
To view the file on a monitor rather than printing,
use software which will interpret the PostScript.
The most common freeware program is
ghostscript or ghostview.
On Unix systems you type the preferred command
unix> gs MyDoc.ps or
unix> ghostview MyDoc.ps
Adobe outdid itself in the 1990s by creating the
Portable Document Format (PDF), which combines the
comprehensive descriptive language of PostScript with
better compression, indexing and searchability,
and hyperlink features similar to what one expects in a web browser.
There is a close relationship between PDF and PostScript,
and they are both well-designed and public standards
bound to be around for years.
But the
document in PDF
form is generally easier
for users both to view and to print.