Journal for Geometry and Graphics 12 (2008), No. 2, 215--228
Copyright Heldermann Verlag 2008
Using PostScript Programming Language in an Undergraduate Computer Graphics Course
Thomas Walter Rauber
Dep. de Informática, Centro Tecnológico, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Av. Fernando Ferrari s/n, 29060-970 Vitória ES, Brazil
thomas@inf.ufes.br
Aura Conci
Instituto de Computação, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua Passo da Pátria 156, 24210-240 Niterói RJ, Brazil
aconci@ic.uff.br
We report about the experiences of using the PostScript programming language in an undergraduate computer science and computer engineering course as a complementary tool besides OpenGL to teach basic concepts of computer graphics, especially affine transformations and hierarchical modeling using a transformation matrix stack mechanism. We can conclude that once the somewhat cryptic syntax of this stack-oriented language has been overcome, a natural computer graphics programming interface is available which permits a rapid understanding of essential concepts in graphics which can then easily be extrapolated to a 3D-interface like OpenGL. We would like to emphasize that the use of PostScript is not intended as an alternative to the standard graphics programming languages, but as an enrichment of the students programming skills in a completely distinct programming paradigm.
Keywords: PostScript, undergraduate teaching, computer graphics.
MSC: 68U05
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