Re: My WWDC/birthday wish
Re: My WWDC/birthday wish
- Subject: Re: My WWDC/birthday wish
- From: has <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 16 May 2014 20:53:36 +0100
Michael Grant wrote:
> AppleScript was designed to be "English-like". What if Siri
lived in my Mac and understood spoken AppleScript commands?
Good dog, I hope not. Constructing correctly working AppleScripts
with keyboard, screen, documentation, and copious trial-and-error is
hurtful enough; I think building them entirely in one's head would
be the quickest and easiest way to a full-on psychotic break. :p
Seriously though, most programming languages are utterly unsuitable
for dictation-based use, especially by less-/non-technical users for
whom voice-driven tasks would be the most natural choice. The syntax
is too complicated, too punctuation-dependent; the semantics too
abstract and impenetrable for most users to casually pick up.
AppleScript may have an "English-like" surface veneer, but beneath
that are deeply traditional roots, being spawned (via HyperTalk)
largely from Pascal with an occasional Smalltalk-ism thrown in.
What you really want is something closer to Logo, which has an
extremely simple syntax and semantics (it's pretty much just words
and lists) and makes it really easy for users to build up their own
custom vocabulary tailored to the tasks they're interested in. While
Logo isn't without flaws of its own, it still stands (IMO) as the
best single demonstration of how real programming - once it's
stripped of the endless swathes of baroque bureaucracy and mindless
BS that infests "Proper Programming Languages"[1] - ultimately boils
down to a handful of key concepts simple and accessible enough they
can be successfully taught to a group of eight year-olds over the
course of a few hours[2]. So if a bunch of bitty brats can soak this
stuff up, I daresay the a moderately interested adult Siri user
would be in with at least a fighting chance.
All that said, however, I'm not sure giving ordinary users the power
to customize and create their own personal experiences in whatever
way they like (i.e. end-user automation) would be something Apple
has any interest in supporting or promoting any more. Apple's
business model nowadays is predicated on delivering a highly
polished but ultimately canned user experience, with many carefully
positioned revenue generation tollgates - not that there's anything
wrong with that, mind - but as consumers you pays your moneys and
takes your choice.
I only wish there was another platform vendor with an automation
infrastructure half as good as Apple's, as messed-up, abused, and
utterly unloved as it is...
Regards,
has
--
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-AppleScript-Comprehensive-Scripting-Automation/dp/1430223618
[1] Which includes supposedly "end-user friendly" languages such as
AppleScript, Python, or even _javascript_ (if you believe the likes of
Khan and Codecademy[3]).
[2] AKA, and not to put too fine a point on it: mainstream
programming and its pedagogy today is unbelievably fucked up. It'd
be tragic if it weren't so embarrassingly cringe-worthy.
[3] Which you shouldn't.
|
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