JavaScript as an alternative to AppleScript on OS X Yosemite

Post by meritt » Sat, Jun 07, 2014, 9:49 PM UTC

coderzach wrote: post #32

JohnBooty wrote: post #12

I love AppleScript because whenever somebody asks, "Why don't they make programming languages more like English?" all you need to do is show them AppleScript. The functionality exposed by OSX apps via AppleScript is often incredible, but the language itself is annoying. The question is whether or not applications will support it. With the emphasis shifting away from OSX desktop applications to cross-platform and clou…

You show them AppleScript and SQL and they say "Wow, what was I thinking, english is a terrible basis for a programming language."

Post by bla2 » Sat, Jun 07, 2014, 9:54 PM UTC

JohnBooty wrote: post #12

I love AppleScript because whenever somebody asks, "Why don't they make programming languages more like English?" all you need to do is show them AppleScript. The functionality exposed by OSX apps via AppleScript is often incredible, but the language itself is annoying. The question is whether or not applications will support it. With the emphasis shifting away from OSX desktop applications to cross-platform and clou…

Post by Goopplesoft » Sat, Jun 07, 2014, 9:58 PM UTC

gvargh wrote: post #42

lucian1900 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the whole point, it could've happened to a much better language.

Really? I don't see anything particularly wrong with Javascript... I mean, sure it's no PHP, but compared to travesties like Lua (1-based, seriously? What year is it again?) and bloated, convoluted semantic messes like Python and Ruby... well there aren't many choices left! Google, Mozilla, Microsoft, and Opera (and obviously Apple) haven't exactly been jumping at the opportunity to deprecate Javascript in or out of…

Post by basil » Sat, Jun 07, 2014, 10:12 PM UTC

eknkc wrote: post #44

stevejohnson wrote: post #35

A lot of people in this thread have misconceptions about what AppleScript is and what it means for JavaScript to be an alternative. I recommend watching the WWDC session [1] if you can, and skip to 16 minutes in (through minute 20) for a quick explanation of what this actually is. TL;DR shell scripting for the GUI, not a way to build Mac applications (which you can already do with JS). Edit: video link Double edit: L…

What video?

Post by pygy_ » Sat, Jun 07, 2014, 10:30 PM UTC

hackmiester wrote: post #19

zyxley wrote: post #3

This makes me really happy. I kind've wish they'd used $ for what Application() is, though, to keep an analogous similarity with jQuery and the like.

Could there be any reasonable situation where one might want to load jQuery within this environment, though? (Although, I suppose, you could use another var for jQuery, such as, uh, 'jQuery' ...)