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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/867
BOOK REVIEWS
46 MacDirectory
BOOKS > THE FINEST IN PRINT AND ONLINE
REVIEWS BY RIC GETTER
AppleScript 1-2-3
Thanks to the efforts of any number of
writers, you can find a whole host of
books to help learn the basics of
AppleScript quickly and easily, even if you
need the aid of a ventriloquist. You'll soon
be able to whip up a few cool and useful
scripts after reading the first few chapters,
but at some point, you'll hit "The
Roadblock." The Roadblock is one of
AppleScript's little quirks that prevent you
from proceeding from point "A" to point
"B" without a less-than-logical side trip or
two. To deal with these, you'll either need
to spend a good deal of time camping
out in the various AppleScript forums or
spend some time with a real AppleScript
master and learn the program from the
ground up.
In this case, the real master is one Sal
Soghoian, an upbeat goatee-and-beret
type who would seem more at home at a
jazz club than in a cubicle. (Actually, as a
talented jazz guitarist, he is quite at home
in both venues.) His book, co-authored
with Bill Cheeseman, founder of the
popular AppleScript Sourcebook Web
site, offers the most comprehensive
training guide to the language available.
But if you're totally new to the concept
of programming a computer, don't be
put off by the book's size and obvious
depth. One of its greatest strengths is
that it will take you from the point of not
knowing how to program at all to
understanding how to write programs
well. This is even true for those of us who
have done a bit of coding in the past,
but whose eyes begin to glaze at the
mention of terms like "objects,"
"containers" and "inheritance." The book
begins with one of the best explanations
of object-oriented programming we've
seen and how you can use the Mac's
powerful AppleScript dictionary to learn
how the parts fit together. The authors
often go to great lengths to provide
clear, real-world examples to illustrate
many of the more abstract concepts.
This will be especially valuable if there's a
chance that AppleScript may become a
stepping stone to less English-like, object-
oriented languages like Java and the
newer flavors of C.
All the example scripts that Soghoian and
Cheeseman use are available online once
you register your copy of the book on
Peachpit's Web site. However, the bulk of
the scripts in early chapters are short and
easy to enter, providing some practice
using Apple's Script Editor and clearly
demonstrating the need for accurate
typing if you're a beginning programmer.
The book touches briefly on scripting
commands to the Unix shell and mentions
that Apple's development environment,
Xcode Tools now supports AppleScript
applications. However, neither of these
topics is covered in depth (and both could
fill a volume of equal size). However, if you
want to learn AppleScript and possibly
move on to more powerful programming
tools later,
AppleScript 1-2-3 will give you
the best possible foundation.
AppleScript 1-2-3
by Sal Solghoian and Bill Cheeseman
Peachpit Press (Peachpit.com)
879 pages, $49.99
ISBN 978-0-321-14931-2
The Russell Brown Show
We realize that most MacDirectory
readers come to these pages to learn
about the newest and best in print. And
you, our faithful readers, will generally
assume that either: a) It is bound
between to covers, and/or b) It costs
money. But sometimes we have to
acknowledge that an absolutely great
resource comes along that doesn't fall
into either of those categories. In this
case, that resource is Russell Brown
(both the person and the Web site),
arguably the best teacher of all things
Photoshop. Until the Internet came of
age, you had to be fortunate enough to
attend one of his presentations in person.
But now, with his Russell Brown Show
Web site