Comments on: AppleScript for the rest of us http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/ ...so google can organize my head. Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:14:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: bbum’s weblog-o-mat » Blog Archive » Smacbook Pro http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-5105 bbum’s weblog-o-mat » Blog Archive » Smacbook Pro Thu, 25 May 2006 20:10:52 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-5105 [...] And, of course, the above demonstrates how trivial it would be to make various physical gestures control other aspects of your machine. Since I don’t actually use multiple desktops, I replaced the notification stuff with a call out to applescript to play the next track in iTunes. [...] [...] And, of course, the above demonstrates how trivial it would be to make various physical gestures control other aspects of your machine. Since I don’t actually use multiple desktops, I replaced the notification stuff with a call out to applescript to play the next track in iTunes. [...]

]]> By: eike http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1627 eike Sun, 26 Mar 2006 04:39:26 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1627 bbum just talks from my heart. (Yes I also only got into it via the pyhton binding, and yes prolog always answered NO to me) But the concept behind applescript just rocks. It's all about sending complex queries just in one turnaround. Basically Applescript did Years ago, what a good webservice api should do. Actually I was quite impressed, how flexible python actually is. In Python, it looks like a simple object traversal, but on the wire it makes for a complex applescript query in the end. I believe there's a lot to be learned for the systems that we build. ~eike bbum just talks from my heart.

(Yes I also only got into it via the pyhton binding,
and yes prolog always answered NO to me)

But the concept behind applescript just rocks.

It’s all about sending complex queries
just in one turnaround.

Basically Applescript did Years ago,
what a good webservice api should do.

Actually I was quite impressed,
how flexible python actually is.

In Python, it looks like a simple object traversal,
but on the wire it makes for a complex applescript query in the end.

I believe there’s a lot to be learned for the systems that we build.

~eike

]]> By: Jacob Rus http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1624 Jacob Rus Sun, 26 Mar 2006 01:44:08 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1624 Kevin, that's only about 50% true. While python is certainly a lot nicer than applescript, once you have spent a bit of time with applescript, it's usually possible to cobble things together to do what you want, especially with some judicious googling. Then again, sometimes it's just <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2005/09/englishlikeness_monster" rel="nofollow">completely baffling</a>. Kevin, that’s only about 50% true. While python is certainly a lot nicer than applescript, once you have spent a bit of time with applescript, it’s usually possible to cobble things together to do what you want, especially with some judicious googling. Then again, sometimes it’s just completely baffling.

]]> By: Kevin Marks http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1602 Kevin Marks Fri, 24 Mar 2006 23:48:00 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1602 You know how regex (and, in some cases, perl) is a write-only language? Well AppleScript is a read only language. You can read the scripts and understand whet they are getting at, but not enough to actually edit them and have them still work. You know how regex (and, in some cases, perl) is a write-only language?
Well AppleScript is a read only language. You can read the scripts and understand whet they are getting at, but not enough to actually edit them and have them still work.

]]> By: bbum http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1601 bbum Fri, 24 Mar 2006 22:51:23 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1601 gensuitemodule is cruft; broken and outdated. aete came along and was much better, but has been deprecated in favor of appscript. appscript seems pretty speedy and I have yet to really break it. It is still obviously using apple events under the covers, so there is a bit of communication overhead. But I was able to pull a large list of songs out of iTunes without a noticeable pause. gensuitemodule is cruft; broken and outdated.

aete came along and was much better, but has been deprecated in favor of appscript.

appscript seems pretty speedy and I have yet to really break it. It is still obviously using apple events under the covers, so there is a bit of communication overhead. But I was able to pull a large list of songs out of iTunes without a noticeable pause.

]]> By: James Eagan http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1595 James Eagan Fri, 24 Mar 2006 17:15:14 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1595 How does appscript compare to gensuitemodule? It's been a while since I last used that and found that it was pretty darned slow. It took quite a while to read in my iTunes library (only about 5k songs) via applescript. I ended up just slurping the plist instead. I suspect that the slowdown is in the fact that I'm using applescript altogether, but if appscript is any faster, that would certainly be a nice option! How does appscript compare to gensuitemodule? It’s been a while since I last used that and found that it was pretty darned slow. It took quite a while to read in my iTunes library (only about 5k songs) via applescript. I ended up just slurping the plist instead. I suspect that the slowdown is in the fact that I’m using applescript altogether, but if appscript is any faster, that would certainly be a nice option!

]]> By: Nick Matsakis http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1594 Nick Matsakis Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:49:16 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1594 I believe the reason that help() is screwed up with iTunes has to do with the way it declares its applescript dictionary. iTunes has a lot of quirks in Applescript that have come over from its OS 9 heritage. I believe the reason that help() is screwed up with iTunes has to do with the way it declares its applescript dictionary. iTunes has a lot of quirks in Applescript that have come over from its OS 9 heritage.

]]> By: ssp http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1586 ssp Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:53:09 +0000 http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/03/24/applescript-for-the-rest-of-us/#comment-1586 I don't know a bit about Python but all this really sounds interesting. I assume it doesn't really help you to do things which just tend to fail in AppleScript, though. Or is there some higher magic in this than using a different language to send AppleEvents? I don’t know a bit about Python but all this really sounds interesting.

I assume it doesn’t really help you to do things which just tend to fail in AppleScript, though. Or is there some higher magic in this than using a different language to send AppleEvents?

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