Re: To shell or not to shell (was Re: URL Access Redux)
Re: To shell or not to shell (was Re: URL Access Redux)
- Subject: Re: To shell or not to shell (was Re: URL Access Redux)
- From: Kevin Bradley <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 01:02:35 -0500
Having read both Ed and Mark's comments re: using shell scripts instead
of AS and talking ABOUT shell scripting vs. AS, I'm moved to add my 2
1/2 cents worth:
I've been using AS for a long time (like System 7 or 8) for a lot of
little tasks mostly. A quick script tossed off to solve a minor
problem here or there. When I worked at the newspaper I used it more
(with Quark and Photoshop) and learned to appreciate the power inherent
in the language. Since AS Studio I've concentrated more on building
apps.
My original post about URL Access illustrates one of the frustrating
issues with AS, though. Yes, curl is there and can do what I need.
But URL Access should, also, and doesn't or doesn't seem to work.
And over the years, how many of us have bumped our noses into some part
of AS that's broken? I just recently had to re-write an AS Studio app
because the delay command got broken in Tiger and Tiger users couldn't
use my program.
Granted that these sorts of headaches are an occupational hazard for
programmers, nonetheless, it is a symptom of what I feel has been a
problem with AS for many years. When was the AS Language Guide updated
last? The version I have reads 1.3.7. And for a language that is as
easy to understand and use as it is, why is all the documentation aimed
at system engineers instead of the average user? And why do we so
often find things that are broken or unusable because they were
implemented badly or just plain don't work? I know that "set end of"
will add something to the end of a list, but only because another
scripter taught me that, it's not in any of the docs I can find.
Take AS Studio for example. Apple should be promoting the hell out of
it. It could be to the Mac what Visual Basic was to Windows. The
ability to cobble together a full, working application with just a few
lines of AS code is one of the best kept secrets in Mac-dom.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love AS and appreciate Apple's commitment
to it. But I feel that it has been given short shrift compared to
other technologies on the Mac.
--
Kevin
To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of
education.
To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun.
To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is
complete.
-- Epictetus
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