JDF - Recipe for Soup ... and a Sandwich

Whereas PostScript, its groundbreaking precursor, is a device-independent page-description format, PDF is a file format that encapsulates all image, graphic, and text data files in a refined but unscreened format, eliminates font problems, and is the most compatible file for raster image processing (RIPping). JDF, on the other hand, is a non-proprietary XML (extensible markup language)-based production language that carries instructions and protocol as the job travels through the various stages of the workflow. It can link and refer to files used by multiple devices and provide automatic job reporting. In a word, says Adobe, in a white paper released on JDF functionality within its recently released Acrobat 7.0: "Whereas PostScript describes pages and PDF describes documents, JDF describes jobs."