drstrip@intvax.UUCP (David R. Strip) (11/02/88)
While waiting for word to come in on how much parameterization is possible in a postscript font - metafont is capable of far more tricks than just non-linear scaling and careful rasterization. From the point of view of someone writing in metafont, the language provides the capability to use symbolic algebra (although of limited capability), to talk about the intersection points of two curves (without having to find it for yourself), points on curves with given tangents, etc. It is a fairly powerful programming language, oriented towards describing character shapes. As an example, consider the computer modern fonts. There is a single "program" for any given letter. The different fonts and sizes are created by changing the input parameters to the program. Computer modern has about 65 parameters (this is a little hazy, check Computers and Typesetting, Vol E. if you really want to know). This set of parameters allows generation of faces ranging from the typewriter fixed pitch faces to sans-serif to roman to ff (funny font, a reverse italic with very strange x-height and other curious features).