I've just implemented Tetris in PostScript, pushing the limits of a document-processing language to run a realtime game. It works in GhostView on macOS.
* 600 lines / 10 KB * 69 different PostScript operators, no external libs * Realtime input, direct drop, increasing speed levels * 7-tetrimino random bags * Nintendo-style scoring and high score tracking
This project builds on my earlier experiments with PSChess and PSSokoban.
It show that PostScript is a lightweight, expressive, and surprisingly interactive programming language. A perfect tool for hacking on unexpected platforms.
Cool! I didn't know that postscript supported interactive content. I thought the code would be generating the document and that's it.
PS was actually used for OS graphics multiple times (with more adaptions of course)
Yes but using raw postscript in this perverse way to get interactivity is truly inspired. My hat is off to the author.
Not really, that is exactly how it was used in Sun NeWS.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeWS
You would write full blown GUI apps in Postscript with some C glue.
Well, it really doesn’t. This uses a clever hack where you write the input to a text file that the PS program is continuously reading. Very cool.
This is very cool! To run this on a modern Linux, install Ghostscript and run it like this:
gs -dNOSAFER tetris.ps
stty raw -echo; cat >> t.txt
Anyone remember NeWS - Network extensible Window System? It was built in Postscript.
I surely do, all my favourite UNIXes went the extra mile to not be yet another clone, embraced better GUI development approaches, and additional userspace stack.
Unfortunately only one of them survives to this day.
It's actually a pretty cool language, a forthy lisp/lispy forth.
Somehow, this reminds me of Tetris in a PDF: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42645218
In two weeks we'll see "Doom in PostScript" pop on the homepage.
There's already Doom in PDF... https://github.com/doom-pdf/ And Linux in PDF... https://github.com/ading2210/linuxpdf
...but not in PostScript (I didn't know about Linux in PDF, gotta check it out)
Is there a C to PS transpiler?
This is pretty neet. Tried running it with ghostscript under Linux and it crashes pretty much after the first tetromino falls a square.
Is there any PS web reader that can run it?
(WASM or otherwise)