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Context Selectors

Given that Final has six user-accessible stacks, a means is obviously needed for operations to specify to which stack you are referring. This is called Context Selection. It arises in two areas:

  1. Many stack operations can be performed on any stack, so in this case, a Context Selector (cs) specifies which stack the operation should be performed on.

  2. Compound Path operations can start with an object–the “receiver”–on most any stack, so the cs is required to specify which stack.

A cs is simply the stack letter, followed by a colon, eg

  • t: prefix for Temp Stack
  • x: prefix for X Stack
    etc.
  • o: prefix for O Stack

The Data Stack does not have a cs selector; an operation that supports a CS, without one, is assumed to apply to DS.

Note that not all compound path operations are supported with the receiver on DS; most require the receiver to be located on an auxilliary or the O Stack.