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uSCRIPT

uSCRIPT (pronounced micro script or u-script) is a highly portable SCRIPT-like typesetting system.

image of uSCRIPT running on VM/ESA 2.4 in debug mode.
uSCRIPT in debug mode, running on VM/ESA 2.4. The contents of TEST PS are in ASCII, so they appear garbled on a 3270 terminal.

Picture of a piece of paper with a heading saying TOP SECRET, and some text saying Evie is a cute kittygirl
The first uSCRIPT-generated document printed remotely to a real PostScript printer at my friend's house, from an RS/6000 running AIX.
Photo courtesy of HackerSmacker.

Currently supported control words are:

  • .CE [Center]
  • .BR [Break]
  • .BL [Blank Line]
  • .SP [Space]
  • .JU [Justify]
  • .SE [Set Symbol]
  • .SU [Substitute Symbols]
  • .RH [Running Heading]
  • .RF [Running Footing]
  • .DF [Define Font]
  • .BF [Begin Font]
  • .PF [Previous Font]

Currently, the only supported output language is PostScript, with Type 1 fonts.

uSCRIPT has been tested to compile on:

  • C for VM/ESA V3R1 on VM/ESA 2.4
  • MSVC 19.44.35207.1 on Windows 11
  • Clang 19.1.0 on Windows 11
  • GCC 14.2.0 on Debian 13
  • Compaq C V6.4-005 on OpenVMS VAX V7.3
  • Optimizing C Compilation System (CCS) 4.1 on UnixWare 7.1.4
  • Open Watcom C/C++32 2.0beta1 on Windows 11
  • C for System/370 Version 3.100 (Whitesmiths) on VM/ESA 1.1 370 Feature (needs some modifications)
  • XL C/C++ 3.6.6 on AIX 4.3
  • IBM VisualAge C++ Professional for AIX Version 4.0.2 on AIX 4.3
  • Compaq C V6.5-011 on Tru64 UNIX V5.0 SL910
  • IBM C/370 Version 1 Release 2 on MUSIC/SP ESA 5.3
       (Note: While the program can compile, link, and start (with some modifications), it does not work properly, and I cannot debug it
       as the compiler is so utterly broken that it takes about 15 minutes of changing random things in a file to get the compiler to not crash
       or read garbage and throw phantom errors. I do not recommend using C/370 Version 1 Release 2 on MUSIC/SP.)
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 on Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
  • Watcom C/C++ CL Clone for 386 Version 11.0 on Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
  • Metrowerks CodeWarrior Pro 4 on Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
  • MSVC 2010 (10.0) on Interix 6.1 (Windows 7)

Future Plans

  • GML
  • A mathematical formula formatter
  • Unicode support
  • Native PDF output with OpenType fonts

Availability

uSCRIPT is a work-in-progress project and is currently not generally available.

Disclaimer

uSCRIPT is in no way affiliated with International Business Machines Corporation ("IBM"), Watcom, or any organization who produces a similar SCRIPT or GML interpreter.

uSCRIPT is developed from scratch by Neko Data Systems, solely based on publicly-available documentation. No copyrighted third party source code was used during development.
     


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Copyright © Lisa Felidae trading as Neko Data Systems. All rights reserved.
"Neko Data Systems" or "Nekodata" is a fictitious business name/trade name of Lisa Felidae. Nekodata does not use generative AI in the production of this web page or any program products.