Customer Reviews

Danny Goodman's Applescript Handbook

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

 

 

I found the first 4 chapters to be clear and very instructive. At the beginning of chapter 5, Mr. Goodman assures the reader "Don't worry if you don't fully comprehend everything [in this chapter]". I waded through, getting some parts but not all, just as he had cautioned. In the chapters that followed, however, I didn't get a sense of a return to clear, instructive reading: it just seemed to get harder.

For beginners I would recommend The Tao of AppleScript-- this is a much gentler introduction and while not as thorough as Mr. Goodman's book, I found it more comprehensible. After reading it, I was able to get a lot more out of Danny Goodman's AppleScript Handbook.

This is not a book for the faint of heart but this is due more to the nature of scripting/programming than any weakness of this book. Unfortunately these topics require that you understand a fair amount before you can understand anything -( a real chicken before the egg scenario) But if you stick it out, you'll be writing truly useful applescripts before youre halfway through the book. Goodman does an especially good job of warning the user of common pratfalls before they stumble. The attached disk contains some excellent scripts that even a beginner can hack to suit their own purposes.

So this would have been a great title, say in 1993. Do yourself a favor, unless you're into antiques, and get a real AppleScript book like the VQS titles from Peachpit. This book is nice to read, but it refers to an AppleScript of the past and has little relevance in the world of Mac OS X. Why people keep recommending this dinosaur is beyond me.

Just received my copy of this book and am disappointed to discover that the publication date
for the 2nd edition is 1998 and that the book is dealing with the OS 7.5 version of Applescript.

It does not come with an accompanying disk.

I assume it will at least take care of sytax, form, style, etc. at that point. However, there have
been many changes since 1997-98 and they will have to be found elsewhere.

I was very surprised to even find this book listed (and with a new cover at that).

I have the 1998 Edition and was under the distinct impression that the book was no longer available in any shape or form (as some friends that liked the book discovered years ago.)

Some books will be more appropriate at the 'bottom' of the learning curve but will seldom be touched 'further down the road'.

In contrast, I find that over the years, I can still return to this book and find the answers I need, as AppleScript syntax, commands and flow control have been robust enough to remain unchanged for the most part.

Since Applications do not usually undergo radical changes in functionality over time, neither do their command dictionaries, so scripting the Finder under Mac OS X is not much different than under System 7.5.

In closing, I still find Goodman's 1998 book a good read; it bootstrapped the learning process when I started and is still a current and comprehensive reference today.

(BTW I dont hand out five stars merely as a matter of principle :) )

I have several AppleScript books but this is the one that I like the most. This should be the first book on AppleScript you should buy. Easy to read and understand. Has a lot of helpful advice. I was having so many problems with trying to write my AppleScripts until I read this book.

I have several AppleScript books but this is the one that I like the most. This should be the first book on AppleScript you should buy. Easy to read and understand. Has a lot of helpful advice. I was having so many problems with trying to write my AppleScripts until I read this book.

This is an old title, no doubt about it, but Danny Goodman was around at the inception of Applescript and knows what it is about. He approaches applescript from a broad base to give the reader total system understanding and then narrows things down to specific application. If you have no programming experience, I would think that this book would help, since scripting is programming, no matter what the guys at Apple try to pawn applescript off as. This book gives a framework to Applescript. I would like to see it rewritten for OSX, but you can fill in the blanks with the Apple's downloadable documentation. If you have the cash for this book, it is worth it. I only give four stars because it is five years old.

Great tool for beginning scripters, and one that'll continue to be useful for the more advanced.

As far as I can tell, this was last revised in 1998. It is geared towards (get this) System 7.5. I don't know how it is otherwise -- I decided I didn't really want to corrupt my brain by teaching ti stuff that was five years out of date.