Re: What's the biggest barrier to wider AS adoption?
Re: What's the biggest barrier to wider AS adoption?
- Subject: Re: What's the biggest barrier to wider AS adoption?
- From: Rachel Cogent <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2001 20:09:33 -0600
Just for conversations sake, as an experienced DOS Batch programmer I guess
I was looking for something like DIR/S>textfile.
it seems a little bizarre that such a rudimentary operation requires mucho
gyrations to accomplish in AppleScript. Like McNutt said, I just want to get
things done and am completely open to alternatives. I have been playing with
OneClick but that also seems like a big deal. Is there anything remotely
like DOS commands?(hope that is not a dirty word here)
Rachel
http://www.gnarlodious.com
Entity Doug McNutt spoke thus:
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Allow me to attempt to answer with a quote from another thread:
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At 18:23 -0600 9/23/01, Rachel Cogent wrote:
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> I am attempting to make a list of all the files in a folder and subfolders,
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> however the "entire contents of" returns an empty list. I have looked all
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> over the Finder dictionary how to do this. does it say this stuff anywhere
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> in plain language? Is this how it is, every little step of the way is a huge
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> obstacle? Please tell me there is a way to learn this stuff without posting
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> a question and waiting for every little modification.
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My personal biggest reason for not using AppleScript is the very
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simple lack of documentation. It is a pain in the proverbial donkey's
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butt to figure out just how to express yourself. "Natural English" is
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a joke. Raw C or C++ is easier to understand. Guessing what phrase
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will be understood is difficult and AppleScript is simply not
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capable, in a human sense, of second guessing what I have in mind
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when I speak the English I learned in 1940.
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In MPW this user's question is simple - two lines:
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directory diskname:directory:
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files
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or
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files -l # if you want to know a lot of details
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or
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files -r # if you want to delve into subdirectories
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and MPW is now free from Apple at:
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ftp://ftp.apple.com/developer/Tool_Chest/Core_Mac_OS_Tools/MPW_etc./MPW-GM_Ima
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ges/
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MacPerl, and now real perl in OS neXt, are better. The MPW scripting
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language, though different from absolutely everyone else's, is at
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least documented.
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It is possible to create and then send interapplication communication
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events in C, MacPerl, perl, or MPW, but it's impossible to discover
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the appropriate codes from the "dictionary" of an application. It's
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equally impossible to guess just what verbiage will persuade
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AppleScript to execute without generating some obscure error.
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Object-oriented methods and classes may make sense somewhere but if
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you want a scripting language easily usable by people who just want
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to get things done they're simply not the right answer.