GhostScript comes as three avatars.
One is a command-line interpreter, the other reads files,
and the third is without display but useful for debugging.
PostScript is a stack-based programming
language. All commands take place on
the operation stack. The commands use
Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) - first arguments,
then operation. This is like some HP calculators
and the ancient programming language FORTH. You'll get used to working backwards, or if not you can program in front of a mirror.
A viewer such as gv
has additional
conveniences - it take into
account various special types of
comments that give a program structure,
and when interpreting a file will re-read the file
when it is changed.
At the opposite extreme is GhostScript
without graphics display - gsnd.
This is very useful for debugging.
I am sorry to tell you that debugging PostScript
with any of these programs is neither elegant nor simple.
|