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What is AppleScript?
AppleScript is a powerful, award-winning, system-level scripting language that is built into the operating system of every Macintosh computer since 1992. In 1998, it was named "Technology of the Year" by MacWorld Magazine. AppleScript Studio – a development environment for creating interface–driven applications for OS X – was named "Best of Show" at Seybold 2001. Now, more than ten years since its introduction, it is the ultimate workflow efficiency tool of the computer age for any Macintosh-based workgroup.
AppleScript provides an entirely new method for users to tell their computers what to do. The traditional method of clicking and typing is now extended to include scripting. Lines of text instruct popular applications, including the Macintosh Finder, to create, modify, delete and access information about objects like files, folders, text, images, pages, documents, servers and more.
Unlike old-fashioned macros which simulate clicks and typing in a less controllable way, AppleScript allows direct access to the commands and objects within an application. This enables an unprecedented level of control over multi-application workflows, allowing a custom scripted solution to process one set of information through any number of off-the-shelf applications.
For example, information can be located and extracted from a database, manipulated, combined with information from text files, and used to locate images in asset management software. All of this can then be used to build catalog pages in a desktop publishing application, already formatted and ready for printing. A scripted solution can be built to make any number of pre-determined logical decisions based on the variety of information encountered. They can also communicate with logs, emails or instant messages. Best of all, these scripts can perform a repetitive task much faster, more consistently and with fewer errors than would otherwise be possible.
Once the AppleScript code is written and tested, it can be saved as an application. The tasks embedded within it can then be performed again with a simple double-click or by dropping files and folders on it. They can also be scheduled to run automatically using a variety of methods.
AppleScript applications can perform virtually any task you can perform manually on a computer. They can be small scripts that perform a few quick actions or full-featured applications complete with an interface. They can use other applications or can perform computational tasks themselves. Best of all, due to the relative ease of development, they can typically be created at a lower cost than with other programming languages.
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