is PostScript platform-independent?

[Jeff Kingston]

Uwe wrote:
 
> [PostScript is a] a widely available, rock solid, platform independent,
> ... PDL
 
I once said the same thing to a correspondent, whose reply was that
postScript *was itself* a platform, hence was in no way platform-
independent.  As I recall he had a HP printer of some kind with its
own (technically inferior) PDL.  From his point of view, PostScript
was a particular, proprietary, platform that he didn't own.
 
I've also come to the view that Lout's reliance on PostScript for
features such as diagrams and graphs shows that Lout has some
fundamental deficiencies.  A document layout language ought to be
able to handle diagrams and graphs, and lay them out to the point
where the device just has to be told "draw this shape here, fill
that outline there", etc.  In fact, I think that one way forward
from here is to look at the things that Lout passes down to
PostScript and ask "what would a language need to have in order
to be able to do these things itself, without losing the many
good things that Lout offers now?"

Jeff