Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format developed by Adobe in the 1990s for reliably presenting and exchanging documents independent of software, hardware, or operating systems. It preserves the layout, fonts, images, and formatting of a document exactly as intended, making it ideal for sharing, printing, and archiving. PDFs can include interactive elements like links, forms, and multimedia, and support features such as digital signatures and encryption for security.
Developers should learn PDF for creating, manipulating, or integrating document generation and processing in applications, such as generating invoices, reports, or forms in web or desktop software. It is essential in industries like finance, legal, and publishing where document fidelity and cross-platform compatibility are critical, and for tasks like automating PDF creation, extracting data, or adding annotations programmatically.