Re: info on FaceSpan
Re: info on FaceSpan
- Subject: Re: info on FaceSpan
- From: Mike Miller <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 10:48:30 -0500
At 3:18 AM -0700 6/22/01, Erik Norton wrote:
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seeking opinions on FaceSpan. is it worth learning?
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is it still supported? is it scalable? should i just
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learn cocoa/carbon instead? their website is active
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but they haven't released an update in a while. any
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info appreciated.
Is it worth learning?
Let's come back to this one.
Is it still supported?
Yes, but development is not as fast as you might like.
Is it scalable?
Not sure what scalable would mean in the context of FaceSpan or AppleScript. Maybe this will help: Can you make Adobe Photoshop or MultiAd Creator with FaceSpan? Not practically. Can you make an app that generates a document or database? Yes, by controlling scriptable applications or working around unscriptable ones. It's AppleScript with an object model framework for making GUIs, and a bunch of extra commands.
Should I just learn Cocoa/Carbon instead?
What kinds of apps do you want to make? If you want to automate applications, FaceSpan and AppleScript are much easier to learn and easier to use but less flexible. If you want to do something that is not accessible through AppleScript/AppleEvents, then you want to learn Mac programming. If you want ultimate flexibility, you want to learn Mac programming. You can make apps that don't do any outside scripting with FaceSpan, but the the more complex the app, the more likely you would be better off with a custom app. Development time and application performance are also factors in deciding what language use for a project.
So, is it worth learning?
If you're doing a large amount of work with scriptable applications and complex scripts, then I think it is. Scripts with many options can be greatly helped with FaceSpan (providing interactive option dialogs, preferences, pre-made selections, and user feedback through the process). If you are familiar with AppleScript, then I'd recommend getting the demo and working with it for a bit to see what you think.
Hope this helps,
Mike Miller
ESG Labs
http://www.esglabs.com/