Re: What's so great about AppleScript, anyway? (was Re: Tell Blocks Considered Harmful…)
Re: What's so great about AppleScript, anyway? (was Re: Tell Blocks Considered Harmful…)
- Subject: Re: What's so great about AppleScript, anyway? (was Re: Tell Blocks Considered Harmful…)
- From: Philip Aker <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:40:27 -0800
On 2008-12-14, at 06:01:46, Chris Page wrote:
Do you think this aspect could be made clearer with finer-grained
syntax coloring?
As a matter of fact, I do. I've wanted that for years. But I think
there's a lot more we could do than that.
In particular the separation of variables and subroutines.
Well, I was thinking the biggest win would be distinguishing command
and parameter names.
That would be nice too.
But more to your point, there is no difference between a variable
and a subroutine name in AppleScript. When you define a handler, it
just defines a variable whose value is the handler, and you can set
that variable to other values:
Yes I know but…
Which is not to say it's impossible, but it does mean AppleScript
would have to figure out the current value of the variable to see if
it's a handler while decompiling the script. It also means that it
wouldn't necessarily be correct at every point within the program.
I could get used to a few anomalies very quickly.
tell application "Finder" to move (every file whose name ends with
".txt") to folder "Text Files"
Well:
mv *.txt 'Text Files'
:-) but I do know what you mean.
Okay, but please forgive me for using this to illustrate a point:
This is exactly my other point about clarity versus saving on
typing. Shell commands were designed to save on typing, because
they're usually entered interactively by the user every time they
wish to run a command. That mv shell command looks like gibberish
unless you know your way around a Unix shell. And it can take some
time to memorize “mv” and how “*” works, and the order of the
arguments. But the AppleScript version is probably at least vaguely
comprehensible to someone who's never seen AppleScript before in
their life. In fact, it's practically exactly how you'd explain in
English what the shell command does.
Well, I spent 12 years in Montreal starting at teenage-hood. Believe
me, when you're seventeen and really horny, you don't care much which
form the language of love takes -- only that it works!
Thanks for the comments. I'm kinda surprised that your remarks are
mostly at the "high" level.
Well, at the low level all languages are identical. ;-) What sort of
things were you expecting me to address?
OSA, how the Apple Event Object Model can subsume huge portions of XML
without working up a sweat, the benefits of sdefs towards defining a
modern AppleScript while still retaining huge portions of the original
design…
Philip Aker
echo email@hidden@nl | tr a-z@. p-za-o.@
Democracy: Two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch.
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