Re: on neophytes vs perfectionists (was Re: Tell Blocks Considered Harmful)
Re: on neophytes vs perfectionists (was Re: Tell Blocks Considered Harmful)
- Subject: Re: on neophytes vs perfectionists (was Re: Tell Blocks Considered Harmful)
- From: Paul Scott <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:36:01 -0800
On Dec 17, 2008, at 10:32 PM, Chris Page wrote:
In my opinion, AppleScript's greatest strength is its
approachability and low barrier to entry ... <snip> ... I am a
professional software developer, versed in several programming
languages.
I couldn't disagree with you more. I am a professional software
developer as well, skilled in many computing languages including C/C+
+, IBM z/Series High Level Assembler, various scripting languages such
as bash and perl, and a whole lot more. I've done the gamut from
embedded programming to mainframe system software. With more than 30
years experience I find AppleScript to be the least approachable
language I've encountered. Yes, less approachable than bash, less
approachable than assembler, by far. Why? Where do I begin? Let's see,
here's a few thoughts:
1) The language syntax isn't very rigid and the documentation is
sparse. I find example scripts all over the place with syntax that is
barely mentioned in the AppleScript Language Guide, or utterly missing.
2) The documentation is somewhat cryptic, making references to
concepts, terms, and syntax that aren't defined.
3) The "dictionaries" don't provide enough information to be useful
more than half the time, and there is no external documentation.
Literally none. Apple's response typically blames the vendor for a
lack of documentation. Yet Apple *is* the vendor for a great deal of
applications.
4) Applescript can't run by itself the way a shell script can. It has
to connect to a window server, so it can't run well out of crontab or
launchd without the user being "logged in".
5) It's not suited for generalized scripting. Any use beyond
controlling an active GUI application is severely limited.
6) It's greatest strength is "do shell script"!!! I find myself
escaping from AppleScript to do things that are too difficult
otherwise, either because the language is too weak, or there's no
clear solution.
On Dec 17, 2008, at 10:32 PM, Chris Page wrote:
Myself and many like me use AppleScript all the time, because it's
the best solution for some jobs, but we need it to scale better.
It *is* the best solution for some jobs. And the worst for a whole lot
more. Maybe this is what you mean by "need it to scale better". It's
interesting that I can use AppleScript with Interface Builder to write
an application. But why would I?
Then again, maybe I'm just an AppleScript neophyte ...
Paul
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