Re: Operator vs. Command precedence
Re: Operator vs. Command precedence
- Subject: Re: Operator vs. Command precedence
- From: Doug McNutt <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2009 12:50:47 -0600
At 10:48 +0100 6/6/09, has wrote (Has has written?):
>All you can do is better educate users as to the similarities and differences between commands whose names are identifiers and commands whose names are keywords, and the gotchas that they need to look out for when dealing with them.
On thing that would really help is a syntax coloring editor with some capabilities that are more than just color.
Some artwork in the fonts that would tie together word pairs that are going to be treated as a single command or variable would really help. Changing the space to an underline is only a start though. Some fancier indicator would be required to allow for a real underline as used by a programmer. Adding quote characters won't hack it even if some of us think that way, but a special pair of graphemes that surround the identified pair is surely possible in the unicode world.
It would also be necessary to look into the dictionaries of applications that are used in a tell block to see if they have multi-word operators.
An editor could also be smart enough to offer application-sensitive suggestions for the multi-word options that come after a "with" operator inside of a tell block. A list in a context sensitive menu, perhaps. I have an impossible time getting the right combination with nothing but a dictionary open on another screen.
The editor can also graphically indicate which application within nested tell blocks will be handling the partially typed request. An arrow to the appropriate tell command, perhaps.
Yes. That all means that the editor would be doing trial compiles while the editing is in progress; not just when a test compile is requested.
--
Applescript syntax is like English spelling:
Roughly, though not thoroughly, thought through.
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