PostScript

Last Updated: March 3, 2003

For some of the CS 779 assignments, you can use PostScript to generate your plots. Only a simple subset of PostScript is required for these questions. The relevant PostScript commands are illustrated by the following PostScript program:

%!
/Times-Roman findfont 10 scalefont setfont      % select a font
newpath
0 0 moveto                      % This and the next two lines draw
100 100 lineto                  %  a line segment from 0,0 to 100,100
stroke                          %
100 100 5 0 360 arc stroke      % This line draws a circle centered at 100,100
110 100 moveto                  % This and the next line displays the
(P(0,0,0)) show                 %  text ``P(0,0,0)'' at 110,100
showpage                        % This line prints the page

Note that a PostScript page is 612 by 792 pixels. You can rescale your page to something that's more workable for your problem by using the scale command. For example, if you want to have the page extend from 0-10 in width, then issue the command

	61.2 61.2 scale

before the newpath in the example above. One caution: PostScript printers often can't draw near the borders. So you probably want to start drawing a bit away from the edge of the page. This is easily done by using the translate command. So for the above example, you're probably better off saying

10 10 translate
61.2 61.2 scale
.016 setlinewidth

You will also need to rescale your font, so the font line should become

/Times-Roman findfont 10 61.5 div scalefont setfont

Further, you will want to draw a shorter lines, and you will need to use a smaller font.