Cool Stuff for D that we keep Secret

[H. S. Teoh via Digitalmars-d]

On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 11:20:55PM +0000, via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> On Thursday, 10 July 2014 at 22:56:44 UTC, H. S. Teoh via Digitalmars-d
> wrote:
> >Most modern file formats are container formats in some form. Pdfs,
> >though, are just wayyyy over-engineered for what it's ostensibly used
> >for. It's like building a nuclear-powered intergalactic space cruiser
> >just to drive down the street to get groceries.
> 
> It is kinda difficult to build by hand, but can be debugged textually
> if you turn off compression. So it is kind of pragmatic in a
> post-scripty way, but lacks elegance… certainly.

One thing I repeatedly come across is malformed pdfs produced by
non-compliant software. Often, the problem comes from certain
assumptions about the format of PostScript *comments* in the file, which
is kinda a scary thought, that changing comments can affect whether a
particular application can process the file correctly.


> It's an ISO standard too, like C++. Over-engineered is probably a
> pre-requisite for proper standardization. As a side note HTML is not a
> standard yet… They tried but gave up on it ISO/IEC 15445:2000.
> Probably too under-engineered.

LOL... I think it's more a matter of corporate interest pushing it
through the standardization process, that no independent individual
would have the patience to do, than anything else. It's a funny thought,
though, if the requirement to standardization is over-engineering.  I
could dust of some of my 20-y.o. half-baked ideas, over-engineer them by
adding needless layers of additional complexity on them, and submit them
for standardization. :-P  Reminds me of this:

	"No, John.  I want formats that are actually useful, rather than
	over-featured megaliths that address all questions by piling on
	ridiculous internal links in forms which are hideously
	over-complex." -- Simon St. Laurent on xml-dev

:-)


T

-- 
Старый друг лучше новых двух.