PDF in Y minutes
2024-02-23

Non-functional Draft
A terse guide to writing pdf files by hand (pdf is a textual format).
Not specification compliant: no xref table for random access, no explicit type definitions, no size declarations.
Those formalities aren't required for modern pdf viewers and are annoying to write by hand.
Similar to Learn X in Y minutes: a tutorial in the style of an example file.

%PDF-1.4
% ^ Header is required, can be %PDF-1.4, %PDF-1.0, etc.
% percent sign is a comment if you didn't realise

% pdf is a subset of the turing complete postscript language
% it has primitive datatypes like numbers and strings
% as well as complex datatypes like arrays and dictionaries

% fun little comment haha
(My test string)
<DEADBEEF>
[/TestName 1.3 -1.2 (Test array)]

% dictionary keys must be a name
% a name starts with a slash and is a unique, indivisible key
% ie. you cannot split a name into letter characters
<< /Foo 3
   /Bar 1
   /Baz 2
   /SubDict << /Lol  (cows)
               /Meme 123
               /Hi   (mom)
            >>
>>

% object of reference number 1 and generation number 0
% reference number is like a pointer address
% generation number is the edit version of an object
1 0 obj
  (Meme)
endobj

% first value is the reference to object 1 0
% the R means the numbers are a reference value
[1 0 R 1.3 (Meme2)]

% tutorial is unfinished. todo: finish tutorial

% end of file marker is required
%%EOF

wip