Applescript in a nutshell · 12 September 2005, 07:39 by Admin
Applescript is Apples’s scripting language. Although Mac OS X includes Perl, Python, Ruby and more, it also has Applescript.
Right off the bat I might as well say it: I don’t like Applescript very much. It’s picky and arbitrary, and anything but user friendly. On the other hand, if you aren’t trying to do too much with it, it is very useful for controlling Mac OS X applications, and you can always farm the harder parts out to Perl or whatever. Or vice versa: you can use “osascript” within shell scripts even.
I’m sure my distaste for Applescript colors my feelings toward this book. I’d surely like it much more if I enjoyed Applescript itself. It’s hard to get enthusiastic about something you feel is fighting you every step of the way. Nonetheless, this book is much better than the sparse help you’ll find in Mac OS X itself. It is much more of a reference manual than a learning guide; although it gives examples liberally, they are usually out of context and confusing for someone new to the language. But then Applescript is confusing anyway.
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