Re: [OT] AppleScript scripts versus Shell scripts
Re: [OT] AppleScript scripts versus Shell scripts
- Subject: Re: [OT] AppleScript scripts versus Shell scripts
- From: Michael Sullivan <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 10:38:18 -0800
I'd like to know what is the observed difference in speed when using
an AppleScript script and the same in Shell language?
I'll answer this from the perspective of using Perl rather than shell
scripting.
The difference is that I can get things done in Perl in record time,
whereas Applescript (I'm a newbie) takes me forever.
Why?
Because on my desk right now are several Perl books which answer almost
all questions I might have. Also on my desk is the "AppleScript
Language Guide For AppleScript 1.3.7" dated nearly three years ago that
answers very few of my questions. If I look up AppleScript books at
Amazon.com, they all have been poorly reviewed (yes, I know there is
supposed to be a great one coming out but that's not until April).
One of the best resources is a series of columns started in 1999 that
are informative but are old (OS X, anyone?) and aren't easy to
reference.
Whenever a new Mac OS release comes out, I see articles along the lines
of "AppleScript: A Mac's Best Kept Secret" urging people to give
AppleScript a try. You know why it's a well-kept secret? Because it
is so hard to get started! Where is the "Learning Perl" equivalent for
AppleScript? Where is "Programming Perl" for AppleScript, for that
matter?
Want a recent example of this? Go to the GUI Scripting page:
http://www.apple.com/applescript/GUI/
Here is the total documentation for this great, new (beta) thing:
"The following script examples demonstrate a few possible uses of GUI
scripting:"
Followed by 13 examples. Does the AppleScript team have a religious
aversion to user documentation (what's with all those "delay 1"s)?
I would love to do more with AppleScript but it is SO HARD to get
my arms around this thing in an efficient manner; my time is finite.
I don't want to scan the net picking up tidbits here and there. I
don't want to post every little question I have to the board or this
list. I want to sit down with a book/manual or a PDF and read. I want
to go to the index, look up the "mount" command, and learn about it
(heck, I didn't even know about "Standard Additions" until last
night--why
did I have to stumble across that instead of learning about it in the
manual?). Maybe I'll figure out why it's having problems passing
username
and password when mounting an smb volume (the dictionary is rather, um,
terse). The example scripts are nice but they're giving me fish instead
of teaching me how to fish.
Thank you for your time. Sorry for the rant but I feel a little better.
--
Michael Sullivan email@hidden
Aelix, Inc. (818)678-1033
9255 Corbin Ave. (818)678-4726 (fax)
Northridge, CA 91324-2401 www.aelix.com
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