TITLE: Beautiful Words, File Format Edition
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: June 27, 2014  3:55 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
In
<A HREF="https://medium.com/message/the-great-works-of-software-705b87339971">
   The Great Works of Software</A>,
Paul Ford tells us that the Photoshop file format is

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
a fascinating hellish palimpsest.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

"Palimpsest" is one of those words I seem always have to look
up whenever I run across it.  What a lyrical word.

After working with a student a few summers ago on a translator
from Photoshop <B><TT>PSD</TT></B> format to HTML/CSS (mentioned
in the first paragraph of
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2011-09.html#e2011-09-08T20_19_25.htm">
   this essay</A>,
I can second the assertion that PSD is fascinating and hellish.
Likewise, however often it has changed over time, it looks in
several places as if it is held together with bailing wire.

Ford said it better than I could have, though.
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