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Re: on the lack of documentation (was: Re: on neophytes vs perfectionists)
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Re: on the lack of documentation (was: Re: on neophytes vs perfectionists)


  • Subject: Re: on the lack of documentation (was: Re: on neophytes vs perfectionists)
  • From: has <email@hidden>
  • Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:38:20 +0000

Ed Stockly wrote:

It's simple only on the surface. Does anyone really expect a neophyte
to understand its intricacies? Especially since the documentation
only
scratches the surface? And the problems aren't just with the language
per se. Are we really expected to depend entirely on the dictionaries
without any supporting documentation? Just one example (of a myriad),
what does iTunes do with "make" from the standard suite? What doesn't
it do? ... I feel abandoned.


Make is the verb. By itself it does nothing. It needs an subject
(object) to do anything.

set resultObject to make new newTypeClass ¬
  at atInsertionLoc ¬
  with properties withPropertiesRecord

You need to tell it what to make and sometimes where to make it and
you can define the properties the new objects is made with.

[...]

This is one case (of many) where, between the sample scripts freely
available, the depth of the scripting implementation and the
appleScript community knowlege base, tons of detailed documentation is
not needed. In addition, if you master scripting one single scriptable
application you can take that knowledge to script almost any
scriptable app.


Sorry Ed, but you really are defending the indefensible here.

The OP is absolutely correct: the vast majority application scripting interfaces are *appallingly* under-documented. Those who say "pshaw, nonsense!" need to lay down the kool-aid and get out a lot more because I spent four years cutting my teeth on AppleScript before going on to other languages, and of all the library/framework/ application APIs (interfaces) I've ever had the pleasure and/or pain of using, application scripting interfaces are far and away the most deficient in their documentation.

One more comment... It's one thing to be an AppleScript fan. It's quite another to blow off newcomers to AppleScript who *really* struggle with the technology due to the fact that application vendors have always failed, and continue to fail, to provide essential instructions on its use. As long as you are willing to make excuses for such a serious deficiency then you are part of the problem, not the solution.

Regards,

has
--
Control AppleScriptable applications from Python, Ruby and ObjC:
http://appscript.sourceforge.net

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