[comp.lang.postscript] ISO SPDL

batcheldern@hannah.enet.dec.com (Ned Batchelder) (03/10/90)

Since it came up under another thread in this group, here's some info on
the ISO SPDL (Standard Page Description Language). The work is being
done at the international level (in ISO/JTC1/SC18/WG8 for those with a
penchant for alphabet soup), with country commitees supporting the work
in all sorts of countries. In the US, the ANSI-accredited commite X3V1
is doing the work.

There are two technical editors for the standard:

	Steve Strasen
	Xerox Corporation
	SStrasen.es@Xerox.COM

	Matt Foley
	Adobe Systems Incorporated
	foley@adobe.com

(Matt may be being replaced by Curtis Jackson, jackson@adobe.com)

In the US, there has been consistent representation from IBM, Unisys, Digital
(I was the representative for a while), NIST (nee NBS), Ricoh, Kodak,
ANPA, and probably a few others. Other companies have been involved,
too, such as HP.

A quick technical summary: SPDL is most like PostScript, but with real
document-level constructs and guaranteed page independence. It has of
course been heavily influenced by PostScript and Interpress, as you can
imagine.

If you would like to participate, by all means do. This may be the next
PostScript coming down the pike. Get in on the ground floor.

Ned Batchelder, Digital Equipment Corp., BatchelderN@Hannah.enet.DEC.com