Page Description Language

A computer language, some capable of object-oriented representation, specifically designed to describe the layout and contents of a printed page. This is done by placing computer language instructions, and sometimes bitmap data, in a file which is downloaded to the language interpreter. The best-known PDLs are Adobe PostScript and Hewlett-Packard PCL (Printer Control Language), both of which are used to control laser printers. Both PostScript and modern versions of PCL are object-oriented, meaning that they describe a page in terms of geometrical objects such as lines, arcs, and circles.