Post by Omar Rizwan (@omar@social.omar.website)

Omar Rizwan @omar

https://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/ulrich/PS/transforms.html interesting difference from HTML5 canvas (which otherwise has an almost identical API to PostScript) where you can set the matrix directly

Transformations

The PostScript interpreter keeps track of a matrix called the current transformation matrix. When constructing an image, the interpreter uses this matrix to convert the world coordinates used by the program into device coordinates used by the printer itself. Generally, the actual contents of the matrix are of little interest to a well-written PostScript program; the reason for this is that the specific contents are device-dependent. A program that uses them might not work properly. PostScript does provide a number of operators, however, that transform the matrix in a device-independent way. These operators allow you to transform the way user space maps onto device space, and they modify the current transformation matrix with a simple matrix transformation. The basic transformation operators are:
rotate
translate
scale
It is useful to realize that the current transformation matrix (and, hence the effect of all these operators) is part of the current graphics state and can be saved and restored using the gsave, and grestore operators. In addition, the transformations on the matrix affect path components constructed after the transformation. Even if a path is only partially constructed when a transformation is invoked, the parts of the path that were in place before the transformation will be unaffected.

Transformations

The PostScript interpreter keeps track of a matrix called the current transformation matrix. When constructing an image, the interpreter uses this matrix to convert the world coordinates used by the program into device coordinates used by the printer itself. Generally, the actual contents of the matrix are of little interest to a well-written PostScript program; the reason for this is that the specific contents are device-dependent. A program that uses them might not work properly. PostScript does provide a number of operators, however, that transform the matrix in a device-independent way. These operators allow you to transform the way user space maps onto device space, and they modify the current transformation matrix with a simple matrix transformation. The basic transformation operators are:
rotate
translate
scale
It is useful to realize that the current transformation matrix (and, hence the effect of all these operators) is part of the current graphics state and can be saved and restored using the gsave, and grestore operators. In addition, the transformations on the matrix affect path components constructed after the transformation. Even if a path is only partially constructed when a transformation is invoked, the parts of the path that were in place before the transformation will be unaffected.