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Re: AppleScript a miserable and utter failure
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Re: AppleScript a miserable and utter failure


  • Subject: Re: AppleScript a miserable and utter failure
  • From: Matt Neuburg <email@hidden>
  • Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 08:12:59 -0700
  • Thread-topic: AppleScript a miserable and utter failure

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 08:02:32 -0700, Jon Pugh <email@hidden>
said:
>there needs to be a language czar

Said the man who used to be the language czar... :)

Only two kinds of terminology conflict are downright bad in the sense that
they stop users from being able to use legal terms at all: conflicts with
the 'aeut' (AS's internal dictionary) and conflicts caused by a scripting
addition - the former because they break the language, the latter because
you can't target (or untarget) a scripting addition.

Example of the former: FileMaker Pro and "end transaction"; Entourage's use
of "rtyp" to mean "recipient" when it already means "as" (as in "get...as");
misuse of "contents" in many dictionaries. This sort of thing is inexcusable
and should be the occasion for a public horsewhipping.

Example of the latter: what John Gruber encountered. I think we can agree
that scripting additions are mostly the work of the devil; that has been
Apple's own official line for years, more or less. Nevertheless a simple
expedient like two-word terms, esp. if the first word is a namespace
resolver like "ACME", pretty much guarantees uniqueness.

The main reason John Gruber's lament has thrust is that both System Events
and StandardAdditions are from Apple. They are both present by default.
Indeed, StandardAdditions is the only osax one really *has* to use. So the
lesson is that Apple must clean up its own shop first. And the shop is
pretty messy. The AppleScriptKit dictionary is particularly atrocious (the
example I seem to be using today is that "path" is defined as both 'ppth'
and 'patA'). It's not a language problem, it's an Apple problem. m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = email@hidden, <http://www.tidbits.com/matt/>
A fool + a tool + an autorelease pool = cool!
AppleScript: the Definitive Guide
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596005571/somethingsbymatt>



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