[hhas]

jcwelch, on 13 December 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

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I wouldn't say that AppleScript is relevant or fully supported by Apple anymore. The last release notes are for 10.6.

Also, given the rather largeish updates to the language plumbing in 10.7 and 10.8, including ASOC access to AppleScript editor, the idea that Apple isn't supporting and improving it is simply incorrect.

Citation? As previous poster says, Apple don't even bother producing release notes for it any more. The last significant developments were Intel support, AS 2.0 in 10.5 (mostly cleaned up Unicode support) and ASOC in 10.6. And both were tiny projects by Apple standards; enough to keep an AS engineer busy, but that's about it. Enabling ASOC to work in ASE was a minor tweak. Look at the number of developers working on something like Python or Ruby. Now look at the number of developers working on AppleScript, and bear in mind their time is split across a whole bunch of other automation-related technologies as well.

Meanwhile, there's a long list of AS-related stuff they're not doing, including stuff like QA, documentation, education, evangelization, or even just supporting it properly in their own applications. Whacking coffin nails in most of the Carbon APIs isn't going to do AppleScript any favors either. Apple simply doesn't care about AppleScript or scripting in general, recently reversing an earlier plan to include the excellent and popular MacRuby in OS X. The only language they care about is Objective-C, because that's what puts apps in their App Store, and money in their pockets. And their future OS X + iOS strategy for inter-process communication is clearly based on XPC Services - i.e. low-level, ad-hoc, ObjC developers-only - which doesn't bode well for Apple events either.

I don't think Apple will outright kill AppleScript (at least not for now); why bother creating [minor] user backlash when there's no immediate need for it? They'll just keep sucking the life out of it until there's nobody left to care.

[flowney]

Steve Jobs famously and incorrectly summarized HyperCard (and HyperTalk) as "a Rolodex on steroids." I don't think that he understood or appreciated the value of automation. His work did not entail repetition so he had no relevant personal experience. Indeed, Steve's work was the antithesis of repetition. I'd guess that he felt similarly about AppleScript.
Had it not been for Apple's Sal Soghoian making the case for automation in the print industry, AppleScript might well have gone the way of HyperCard. Back in that day, Apple really needed customers willing and able to buy Mac hardware in significant quantity.
Fast forward to the present. Apple doesn't need and possibly doesn't even want those customers as it once did. The enterprise is no longer a valued customer. Hobbyists are no longer valued customers. Even the film industry is wondering whether Apple holds it dear.

[MAQer]

So that AppleScript is sequel to HyperCard and prequel to Automator..
Or:
HyperCard ➡ AppleScript ➡ Automator ➡ ??

[flowney]

Quote

So that AppleScript is sequel to HyperCard and prequel to Automator.. Or: HyperCard ➡ AppleScript ➡ Automator ➡ ??

That looks right to me. HyperCard supported AppleScript as does Automator. All of these benefitted from call-able binaries and these continue to appear (example: avconvert debuted in Lion).
There is also a QuickTime connection here. We were supposed to see a HyperCard 3.0 that integrated many aspects of QuickTime. This was, of course, canceled when HyperCard was discontinued and many members of the HyperCard team were transferred to QuickTime. Versions 3-5 of QuickTime were heavily influenced by former members of the HyperCard team. Indeed, HyperCard 3 was reborn in QuickTime 3-5 with hooks for scripting languages such as LiveStage. All of that has been relegated to the dustbin of history with the current iteration of QuickTime. No QScript, AppleScript has been pared down significantly and so on.

[HomerJones]

LOL, nice to see this meaningless post (except to induce some nostalgia).
Is the next article about OpenDoc?
Ah yes Frontier - I was so happy to delete this incomprehensible technology.

There was another app - I forgot the name but I did meet the developer at a MacWorld in the early 90s - that scripted the Mac Gui - not quickeys for god's sake!

And since we're going to name drop, let's remember Liaison and Tops and tip our hat to Timbuktu and La Cie for still breathing unlike Jasmine hard disks and Radius flipping monitor.

LOL Jobs put the Radius rotating monitor and the switcher into IOS.
Kind of like reducing the functionality of a Lion into a kitten.

[yemiteliyadu]

@ccstone I second everything you said, and would add that User Interface Scripting (in addition to shell scripting access) has patched many holes in applications that don't have proper AppleScript support.
I've dropped osaxen due to stability issues. Which ones do you find useful?
I've found "hints.macworld.com" (macoshints) and "macscripter.net" to be useful resources when I'm stuck with syntax issues. Any other favorite resources?
Bottom line for me: Applescript = application customization for routine tasks

[volnayguy]

The one question I have for a long time have wanted to ask is: what is the difference between Apple Script and Automator? Is there an advantage of one over the other? Thanks!

[joswest]

Nobody loves AppleScript???? Okay, thats wonderful since then I can keep my beloved for myself (although I don't think that's true).

[joswest]

Good point jcwelch. Also there are many things you can't do as smoothly as with Appescript. For example with automating graphic flows. In fact, sometimes Applescript is the only way - regardless of platform.

What is true is that PROGRAMMERS seldom love Applescript. That's because it's so different from what they learned at school.

[druff]

No it isn't a gateway programming language. I work in the printing industry, so applescript is near and dear to me. After the demise of Hypercard, I moved into applescript. And thats where I stayed. ...Why because it does what I need to be efficient in my job. ...I'd be lost without it.

[wildcatherder]

I cannot find ANY information on transitioning from AppleScript to AppleScriptObjC. Is there a way to call or embed existing AppleScript code into Xcode or are we just supposed to throw away all the old code, if we want any kind of GUI?