PostScript, a page-description language developed in the early 1980s by Adobe Systems Incorporated on the basis of work at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). Such languages describe documents in terms that can be interpreted by a personal computer in order to display the document on its screen or by a microprocessor in a printer or a typesetting device.

PostScript commands can, for example, precisely position text, in various fonts and sizes, draw images that are mathematically described, and specify colour or shading. PostScript uses postfix, also called reverse Polish notation, in which an operation name follows its arguments. Thus, “300 600 20 270 arc stroke” means: draw (“stroke”) a 270-degree arc with radius 20 at location (300, 600). Although PostScript can be read and written by a programmer, it is normally produced by text formatting programs, word processors, or graphic display tools.

The success of PostScript is due to its specifications being in the public domain and to its being a good match for high-resolution laser printers. It has influenced the development of printing fonts, and manufacturers produce a large variety of PostScript fonts.

computer chip. computer. Hand holding computer chip. Central processing unit (CPU). history and society, science and technology, microchip, microprocessor motherboard computer Circuit Board
Britannica Quiz
Computers and Technology Quiz
David Hemmendinger

vector graphics, mathematically based computer image format.

Vector graphics, composed of lines defined by mathematical formulas, were first used in computer displays in the 1960s and ’70s. The displays were essentially modified oscilloscopes, and vector graphics were used because the memory that would be needed for displaying raster graphics, or bit-mapped graphics, was too expensive. Vector graphics were also used in early arcade games such as Asteroids. By the 1980s, raster graphics, which use dots called pixels to create an image, had all but replaced vector graphic displays.

Vector graphics made a comeback, however. Graphic designers use vector graphics to create graphics that need to be scaled. The nature of vector graphics, where each line, curve, shape, and colour is mathematically defined, lends itself to creating images that can be scaled down for a business card or up for a billboard. The popularity of vector graphics led the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to create a graphics language called scalable vector graphics (SVG). SVG is a royalty-free language that contains vector shapes and text and can contain embedded raster graphics. One common application for vector graphics in general, and SVG specifically, is in geographic information systems (GIS). SVG is used in GIS applications to produce maps that are scalable and interactive.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.