Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
More recent Adobe extensions to PDF 1.7 are documented in
ExtensionLevel
docu-
ments, which do not form part of the ISO Standard, but would be expected to form
part of a later, updated one.
Both Adobe's copy of ISO 32000-1:2008 and the ExtensionLevel documents can be
downloaded from the
Adobe Developer Connection Website
.
PDF Hacks
O'Reilly's other PDF title,
PDF Hacks
by Sid Steward, emphasizes practical solutions
to a wide range of PDF problems. It includes 100 separate hacks to:
• Customize PDF viewers to make reading PDFs more comfortable.
• “Refry” huge PDF files into much smaller files.
• Create PDF files with a variety of tools on a number of platforms.
• Edit PDF text from the gVim text editor.
• Use familiar software to create PDFs with advanced navigation features.
• Build PDFs with sophisticated navigation and interactive features.
• Generate PDFs on the fly.
• Integrate PDF files with websites beyond a simple hyperlink.
• Collect data on a website with PDF forms.
• Index and compare PDF files.
• Convert incoming faxes to PDF.
• Write scripts that control Adobe Acrobat.
Related Topics
The PDF standard and this topic make reference to (and sometimes assume knowledge
of) the general area of computer graphics. The standard reference for these topics is
Computer Graphics Principles and Practice
(Foley et al., Addison-Wesley 1990). This
topic contains all the background on Bézier curves, transparency, affine transforma-
tions, and other topics needed to understand how to write PDF graphics streams.
A good reference for understanding the dictionaries, trees, and other data structures in
PDF and why they were chosen is
Algorithms
(Cormen et al., MIT Press, 1990). Any
similar topic on algorithms should suffice.
Forums and Discussion
There are a number of places to discuss technical PDF topics:
• The
Planet PDF Forums
are a popular venue for all sorts of technical and non-
technical PDF discussions.
