Customer Reviews

Applescript for the Internet (Visual QuickStart Guide)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the third AppleScript book I've bought but the first that told me what I needed to know (and made sense)!

The book contains a short overivew, starts you with basic basics, goes through most of the language with simple sentences and clear examples, and then ...

The fun part! You learn more of AppleScript by applying it to different programs to do useful things. Script Sherlock! Script your web browser, Eudora or Outlook, Fetch, FileMaker, Photoshop, write CGIs, make gif charts, and lots of other goodies.

This book should be read by anyone who wants to learn AppleScript and/or use it, as Cal Simone says in the preface, to empower your creative spirit!

(The other two books I liked less: AppleScript for Dummies--too many jokes and extraneous information make it hard to follow; AppleScript Applications--too oriented toward FaceSpan and away from general scripting.)

Warning: Despite the title, this is not a book for an AppleScript beginner. In fact, there's something in the book that could turn off nearly any category of potential buyer.

-Non-programmers will be intimidated by the prominent placement of source code and might never pick up the book again.

-Novice scripters will be disappointed at the somewhat perfunctory introduction and won't get much of a sense of how tasks could be accomplished in different ways.

-Veteran programmers who've scripted in other languages will wonder why so much space is spent discussing the scripting of applications (some of which seem only peripherally associated with the Internet), with so little spent discussing the scripting of processes on Web servers.

-And veteran AppleScripters probably won't find much here they haven't though of already.

There is, however, one category of AppleScripter who will benefit tremendously from this book--the intermediate level scripter who has studied the Apple-provided tutorials and help documents, who has tinkered with some third-party scripting tools or even demos of development environments, who has probably even produced a simple script or two, and is asking the question, "Where do I go now?"

Perhaps the book would be better referred to as a 'kickstart' guide. There are dozens of scripts in this book, all very well notated. Some may be useful to you as written. Some may give you ideas for your first big AppleScript project. Some may simply introduce you to a third-party scripting addition that you hadn't known about before. And some you may find that months from now will suddenly inspire you in ways you couldn't have predicted.

As long as you're aware of the ways in which this book might not be useful to you, you're much more likely to appreciate the ways in which it can be useful.

AppleScript for the Internet is a great guide for both beginners and experts.

I have read several other books regarding AppleScript, and AppleScript for the Internet is by far the best AppleScript reference book I have read.

This book has over a hundred detailed examples and each line of code is fairly well detailed. Examples from moving a folder, creating mailing lists, all the way up to creating CGI's.

I only gave it four stars because I felt that the author could have spent some more time on the basics and commands of AppleScript.

But if you are looking for a book to jump start you AppleScript knowledge or just need some great AppleScript examples, then AppleScript for the Internet is a great book to start with.

A bit "gratuitous" in it's example scripts followed by line-by-line, over-explained annotation of the scripts; the "introduction" to applescript is tedious; but for those with some prior context and the need to get a quick-bead on applescript, the samples can be "tried", "modified" and further "glorified" to your heart's content.

At this price, the sample scripts pay the freight.

<I>AppleScript for the Internet</I> is a great help to those ofus with a need to find out how to put Apple's 1998 "Technology ofthe Year" Eddy Award winning AppleScript on the web. Also explained are other parts of the scripting language that are musts for writing good scripts.

The writing of this book wasn't overly complex but wasn't written like it was for idiots. A great resource. It could have used a few more examples of CGIs, but overall it has enough to get anyone up and running. I read it without even doing the examples as was recommended and felt immediately comfortable with applescripting. This will help you with general purpose scripting, also (ie: not just for networking)

I'm very unhappy with this book. I've done tons of scripting in many other languages and after reading this book, I still am unable to write an Applescript to do the simplest task. The first few chapters are for stupids and the rest of the book is all examples - many of which may not apply to you since they are about specific applications. Definitely look at this book in a bookstore before buying online to see if it will work for you or if it will be as useless as it has been to me.

I really wish this book had more material to offer. Nevertheless, I found that this book had most comprehensive material on MacOS 9 era of scripts. I needed something to get started on older Mac OS 9 supported desktops, and this book helped immensely.

Some of the cool highlights that there was coverage of configuring OpenTranspot (TCP, AppleTalk), which is great for IT folks, coverage of adding user interface with FaceSpan, and using email programs like Outlook Express or Eudora Pro.

From my perspective this book is best described as 'brief'. I m new to AS but I believe my latter statement is qualified. The book identifies excellent topics, is very well written and easy to follow, but unfortunately lacks depth ( a puddle?)and adequte coverage. Saying this, it is a Quickstart Guide so ...

... Its a handy book to have but don t expect too much (get Santa to pay for it)

From my perspective this book is best described as 'brief'. I m new to AS but I believe my latter statement is qualified. The book identifies excellent topics, is very well written and easy to follow, but unfortunately lacks depth ( a puddle?)and adequte coverage. Saying this, it is a Quickstart Guide so ...

... Its a handy book to have but don t expect too much (get Santa to pay for it)