Drawing the line

[Count Dracula]

If a PostScript code fragment is going to draw lines
through a set of N + 1 points (x0, y0), (x1, y1), ..., (xN, yN),
which of the following two choices would be more efficient
(or is there something better than both)?

(1) \m {moveto} bind def
\L {lineto} bind def
x0 y0 m x1 y1 L x2 y2 L .... xN yN L stroke

(2) \r {{lineto} repeat} bind def
\m {moveto} bind def
x0 y0 m x1 y1 x2 y2 ... xN yN N r stroke

The number N is expected to be between 25 and 100 for each
use of the code.

--
___________________________________________________________________________________
Levent Kitis lk...@cars.mech.virginia.edu lk...@kelvin.seas.virginia.edu
University of Virginia Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering
___________________________________________________________________________________

[Ian Kemmish]

In article <Dp92...@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, lk...@cars.mech.Virginia.EDU
says...

>
>If a PostScript code fragment is going to draw lines
>through a set of N + 1 points (x0, y0), (x1, y1), ..., (xN, yN),
>which of the following two choices would be more efficient
>(or is there something better than both)?
>
>(1) \m {moveto} bind def
> \L {lineto} bind def
> x0 y0 m x1 y1 L x2 y2 L .... xN yN L stroke

/m /moveto load def is probably a whisker faster.

>(2) \r {{lineto} repeat} bind def
> \m {moveto} bind def
> x0 y0 m x1 y1 x2 y2 ... xN yN N r stroke

There's less to interpret here, so it should be quicker. Note
{{lineto} bind repeat} may be better still.

You'll also need to remember to push the end points onto the stack in the
opposite order, which you haven't done here (the first executed lineto
consumes the last pushed pair of numbers, etc.)

>The number N is expected to be between 25 and 100 for each
>use of the code.

If you're going to a level 2 printer you should definitely investigate
whether user paths (particularly the encoded string form) will be faster for
you.

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[jdaw1]

/l /lineto load def
would execute slightly quicker than
/l {lineto} bind def