Re: is Shane's advice being collated?
Re: is Shane's advice being collated?
- Subject: Re: is Shane's advice being collated?
- From: Paul Berkowitz <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 15:01:02 -0800
- Thread-topic: is Shane's advice being collated?
Title: Re: is Shane's advice being collated?
On 11/19/14, 4:39 AM, "Bill Cheeseman" <email@hidden> wrote:
On Nov 19, 2014, at 7:22 AM, 2551 <email@hidden> wrote:
4. Realised that to get proficient with ASObjc, I really needed to learn Cocoa. But learning Cocoa is a helluva-lot easier in Objective C proper (because of the wealth of materials available, for one thing, but also because Apple's documentation and sample projects are all pure Obj-C (and now Swift) for another).
5. Once I learned Objective-C, I had no need for ASObjc. I now switch between scripting purely in AS or coding in Objective-C. If I want to combine the two, I'll do that by making a Cocoa app and calling OSAScript or NSAppleScript, or even NSTask calls (e.g., in lieu of a 'do shell script' that I might have done in AS).
I think Phil hit it right on the nose. I followed exactly the same path, except I started with AppleScript in 1993 and with Objective-C in 1999. I still use AppleScript all the time for personal stuff, but I haven't felt the need for ASObjc. Except that I do plan to update all of my personal scripts pretty soon now, and I will certainly explore ASObjc to improve the user interaction aspect of the scripts.
I also want to comment on Shane's concern about AppleScript's future. I've been hearing the same fears of doom ever since 1993. I commented about the phenomenon from time to time on my old AppleScript Sourcebook website. Basically, AppleScript has survived all these years because it fills a need for many of us (including the lurkers on the list who never pipe up). Also because of the devotion of many advocates both in and outside of Apple. It seems to me now, as it has for a very long time, that it is so deeply ingrained in the system and in important groups of users that Apple can't afford to drop it. Just look at the broad and deep improvements that Apple has added to AppleScript in version after version, including Yosemite.
I think that ASObjC will be used by regular AppleScripters, not new programmers, who are comfortable with AppleScript but get frustrated, as we all do if we become a bit more ambitious and hit walls where AS just can't do things but ObjC can. Back in the day, that got me interested in AppleScript Studio and then learning the basics and a smattering of Objective C to accomplish these "impossible" things. Now, in Yosemite, where a few lines of ASObjC can do the trick when needed, without having to contort oneself around script libraries as in Mavericks, I'll be very surprised if AppleScripters don't gradually come around to learning bits as they need them. Certainly, as Phil (2551) and Bill say, at the point you get really serious about ASObjC, you might find that you want to simply learn Objective C and code there.
But in the meantime, for regular AppleScripters, sooner or later when they hit the wall of something they can't do, I'm pretty sure that more and more will dip their toe into ASObjC and will then find Shane's book invaluable. Shane should not get discouraged that it hasn't "taken off" immediately. In time, more scripters will, come around. In the very long view, probably newbies will tend to work the other way, from ObjC and Swift, just dabbling into AppleScript as they need it via NSAppleScript. But even then there will probably always be newbies attracted by AppleScript's supposed ease of learning who come to AAS first, then hit the wall. Chin up, Shane!
--
Paul Berkowitz
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