<s>
Printer	B-Language
Command	I-Language
Language	I-Language
,	O
more	O
commonly	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
PCL	B-Language
,	O
is	O
a	O
page	O
description	O
language	O
(	O
PDL	O
)	O
developed	O
by	O
Hewlett-Packard	O
as	O
a	O
printer	O
protocol	O
and	O
has	O
become	O
a	O
de	O
facto	O
industry	O
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
developed	O
for	O
early	O
inkjet	O
printers	O
in	O
1984	O
,	O
PCL	B-Language
has	O
been	O
released	O
in	O
varying	O
levels	O
for	O
thermal	O
,	O
matrix	O
,	O
and	O
page	O
printers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HP-GL/2	O
and	O
PJL	B-Language
are	O
supported	O
by	O
later	O
versions	O
of	O
PCL	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
is	O
occasionally	O
and	O
incorrectly	O
said	O
to	O
be	O
an	O
abbreviation	O
for	O
Printer	O
Control	O
Language	O
which	O
actually	O
is	O
another	O
term	O
for	O
page	O
description	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
levels	O
1	O
through	O
5e/5c	O
are	O
command-based	O
languages	O
using	O
control	O
sequences	O
that	O
are	O
processed	O
and	O
interpreted	O
in	O
the	O
order	O
they	O
are	O
received	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
a	O
consumer	O
level	O
,	O
PCL	B-Language
data	O
streams	O
are	O
generated	O
by	O
a	O
print	B-Application
driver	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
output	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
easily	O
generated	O
by	O
custom	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
1	O
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
1984	O
on	O
the	O
HP	O
ThinkJet	O
2225	O
and	O
provides	O
basic	O
text	O
and	O
graphics	O
printing	O
with	O
a	O
maximum	O
resolution	O
of	O
150	O
dpi	O
(	O
dots	O
per	O
inch	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
1+	O
was	O
released	O
with	O
the	O
HP	O
QuietJet	O
2227	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
2	O
added	O
Electronic	O
Data	O
Processing/Transaction	O
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
3	O
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
1984	O
with	O
the	O
original	O
HP	O
LaserJet	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
products	O
with	O
PCL	B-Language
3	O
support	O
were	O
the	O
HP	B-Device
DeskJet	I-Device
ink	O
jet	O
printer	O
,	O
HP	O
2932	O
series	O
matrix	O
printers	O
and	O
HP	O
RuggedWriter	O
2235	O
matrix	O
printers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
3	O
is	O
still	O
in	O
use	O
on	O
several	O
impact	O
printers	O
which	O
replaced	O
the	O
obsolete	O
HP	O
models	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
3+	O
(	O
mono	O
)	O
and	O
PCL	B-Language
3c+	O
(	O
color	O
)	O
are	O
used	O
on	O
later	O
HP	B-Device
DeskJet	I-Device
and	O
HP	O
PhotoSmart	O
products	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
3GUI	O
is	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
HP	O
DesignJet	O
and	O
some	O
DeskJet	B-Device
series	O
printers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
uses	O
a	O
compressed	O
raster	B-Algorithm
format	I-Algorithm
that	O
is	O
not	O
compatible	O
with	O
standard	O
PCL	B-Language
3	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
4	O
was	O
introduced	O
on	O
the	O
HP	O
LaserJet	O
Plus	O
in	O
1985	O
,	O
adding	O
macros	O
,	O
larger	O
bitmapped	B-Algorithm
fonts	O
and	O
graphics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
4	O
is	O
still	O
popular	O
for	O
many	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
5	I-Language
was	O
released	O
on	O
the	O
HP	O
LaserJet	O
III	O
in	O
March	O
1990	O
,	O
adding	O
Intellifont	O
font	O
scaling	O
(	O
developed	O
by	O
Compugraphic	O
,	O
now	O
part	O
of	O
Agfa	O
)	O
,	O
outline	O
fonts	O
and	O
HP-GL/2	O
(	O
vector	O
)	O
graphics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
5e	O
(	O
PCL	B-Language
5	I-Language
enhanced	O
)	O
was	O
released	O
on	O
the	O
HP	O
LaserJet	O
4	O
in	O
October	O
1992	O
and	O
added	O
bi-directional	O
communication	O
between	O
the	O
printer	O
and	O
the	O
PC	O
and	O
Windows	B-Application
fonts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
5c	O
introduced	O
color	O
support	O
on	O
the	O
HP	O
PaintJet	O
300XL	O
and	O
HP	O
Color	O
LaserJet	O
in	O
1992	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HP	O
introduced	O
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
around	O
1995	O
with	O
the	O
HP	O
LaserJet	O
4000	O
series	O
printers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
"	O
Enhanced	O
"	O
:	O
An	O
object-oriented	O
PDL	O
optimized	O
for	O
printing	O
from	O
GUI	B-Application
interfaces	O
such	O
as	O
Windows	B-Application
and	O
compressed	O
to	O
optimize	O
throughput	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Formerly	O
known	O
as	O
PCL	B-Language
XL	O
or	O
PXL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
Standard	O
:	O
Equivalent	O
to	O
PCL	B-Language
5e	O
or	O
PCL	B-Language
5c	O
,	O
intended	O
to	O
provide	O
backward	O
compatibility	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
"	O
Enhanced	O
"	O
architecture	O
was	O
altered	O
to	O
be	O
more	O
modular	O
and	O
to	O
be	O
more	O
easily	O
modified	O
for	O
future	O
HP	O
printers	O
,	O
that	O
it	O
prints	O
complex	O
graphics	O
faster	O
,	O
that	O
it	O
reduces	O
network	O
traffic	O
,	O
and	O
has	O
higher	O
quality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
early	O
implementations	O
,	O
HP	O
did	O
not	O
market	O
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
well	O
,	O
thus	O
causing	O
some	O
confusion	O
in	O
terminology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
XL	O
was	O
renamed	O
to	O
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
Enhanced	O
,	O
but	O
many	O
third-party	O
products	O
still	O
use	O
the	O
older	O
term	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
products	O
may	O
claim	O
to	O
be	O
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
compliant	O
,	O
but	O
may	O
not	O
include	O
the	O
PCL	B-Language
5	I-Language
backward	O
compatibility	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
Enhanced	O
is	O
primarily	O
generated	O
by	O
the	O
printer	B-Application
drivers	I-Application
under	O
Windows	B-Application
and	O
CUPS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
Enhanced	O
is	O
a	O
stack-based	O
,	O
object-oriented	O
protocol	O
,	O
similar	O
to	O
PostScript	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
restricted	O
to	O
binary	O
encoding	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
PostScript	B-Language
,	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
sent	O
either	O
as	O
binary	O
code	O
or	O
as	O
plain	O
text	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
plain-text	O
commands	O
and	O
code	O
examples	O
shown	O
in	O
the	O
PCL	B-Language
programming	O
documentation	O
are	O
meant	O
to	O
be	O
compiled	O
with	O
a	O
utility	O
like	O
HP	O
's	O
JetASM	O
before	O
being	O
sent	O
to	O
a	O
printer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
Enhanced	O
is	O
designed	O
to	O
match	O
the	O
drawing	O
model	O
of	O
Windows	B-Operating_System
GDI	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
way	O
,	O
the	O
Windows	B-Application
printer	B-Application
driver	I-Application
simply	O
passes	O
through	O
GDI	O
commands	O
with	O
very	O
little	O
modification	O
,	O
leading	O
to	O
faster	O
return-to-application	O
times	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
has	O
extended	O
this	O
concept	O
with	O
its	O
next-generation	O
XPS	B-Device
format	O
,	O
and	O
printer	O
implementations	O
of	O
XPS	B-Device
are	O
being	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
not	O
a	O
new	O
idea	O
:	O
it	O
is	O
comparable	O
with	O
Display	O
Postscript	B-Language
and	O
Apple	O
's	O
Quartz	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
in	O
contrast	O
to	O
"	O
GDI	O
Printers	O
"	O
where	O
a	O
compressed	O
bitmap	O
is	O
sent	O
to	O
the	O
printer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Draw	O
tools	O
:	O
Support	O
drawing	O
lines	O
,	O
arcs/ellipses/chords	O
,	O
(	O
rounded	O
)	O
rectangles	O
,	O
polygons	O
,	O
Bézier	O
paths	O
,	O
clipped	O
paths	O
,	O
raster	B-Algorithm
images	I-Algorithm
,	O
scanlines	O
,	O
raster	B-Algorithm
operations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compression	O
:	O
Supports	O
RLE	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
Choosing	O
character	O
set	O
uses	O
different	O
symbol	O
set	O
code	O
from	O
PCL	B-Language
5	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Color	O
handling	O
:	O
Allow	O
using	O
different	O
halftone	O
settings	O
for	O
vector	O
or	O
raster	B-Algorithm
graphics	I-Algorithm
,	O
text	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Protocol	O
:	O
Supports	O
PCL	B-Language
passthrough	O
,	O
allowing	O
PCL	B-Language
5	I-Language
features	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
by	O
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
streams	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
some	O
PCL	B-Language
6	I-Language
states	O
are	O
not	O
preserved	O
when	O
using	O
this	O
feature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Font	O
:	O
Supports	O
PCL	B-Language
fonts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PJL	B-Language
(	O
Printer	B-Language
Job	I-Language
Language	I-Language
)	O
was	O
introduced	O
on	O
the	O
HP	O
LaserJet	O
IIIsi	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PJL	B-Language
adds	O
job	O
level	O
controls	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
printer	O
language	O
switching	O
,	O
job	O
separation	O
,	O
environment	O
commands	O
,	O
status	O
feedback	O
,	O
device	O
attendance	O
and	O
file	O
system	O
commands	O
.	O
</s>
