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Frontier: The Definitive Guide [Paperback]

Matt Neuburg (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 8, 1998

Of course you love your Mac, but don't you wish you could program it yourself?

Instead of looking for an application that does what you need, what if you could write a program to concatenate files, change file-types, munge text?

What if you could automate repetitive processes, and tie existing applications together: Have QuarkXPress construct a whole catalog based on a FileMaker database, or have Clip2GIF transform all the PICTs in a Microsoft Word file into GIFs?

What if you could send email without an email program, or download Web pages without a browser? What if you could control remote computers across a network?

What if you could beef up your Web site by writing your own CGI scripts, or by generating hundreds of related Web pages automatically?

With UserLand Frontier, you can do all this and more. What is Frontier?

  • It's a simple but sophisticated scripting language (UserTalk), with speed that blows AppleScript away and a far easier learning curve -- plus it's multi-threaded and includes an elegant debugging environment.
  • It's an integrated database with instant access to data, text, outlines, and tables.
  • It's a totally automated environment, where scripts can create dialogs, open windows, edit text, alter menus.
  • It's a hook to the system, able to read and write files, open documents, read the clipboard.
  • It's a base for sending and receiving Apple events, so it can drive any scriptable application and can be integrated into other scripting applications.
  • It's a network application, able to function as a client or server over AppleTalk or the Internet.
  • It's a powerful scripting environment for Web site management and system level scripting.

Frontier: The Definitive Guide is the first book devoted exclusively to teaching and documenting this wonderful program. With it, you can learn all about Frontier or find out about just those aspects that interest you. Whether you're a complete Frontier beginner or an experienced hand in need of a clear, ordered reference, this book is for you.

Packed with examples, advice, tricks and tips, Frontier: The Definitive Guide teaches you Frontier from the ground up. Even if you've never programmed before, you'll be cranking out Web pages or writing your own custom scripts in no time. Before you know it, you'll have joined the ranks of thousands of Macintosh power users who make Frontier their "home base."

Covers Frontier 4.2.3 for the Macintosh.


Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Matt Neuburg has a PhD in Classics and has taught at many universities and colleges. He has been programming computers since 1968. He has written applications for Mac OS X and iOS, is a former editor of MacTech Magazine, and is a long-standing contributing editor for TidBITS. His previous O'Reilly books are Frontier: The Definitive Guide, REALbasic: The Definitive Guide, and AppleScript: The Definitive Guide. He makes a living writing books, articles, and software documentation, as well as by programming, consulting, and training.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 616 pages
  • Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (March 8, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1565923839
  • ISBN-13: 978-1565923836
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,037,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent guide to Frontier scripting, November 3, 1999
This review is from: Frontier: The Definitive Guide (Paperback)
This book is so useful on a daily basis that I finally purchased a second copy so that I wouldn't have to lug it back and forth between home and work. It takes second place only to my O'Reilly "Java In A Nutshell" as the most beat-up book I own.

It covers Frontier only up to version 4, but all of the material is still very relevant; notably, the language syntax is still the same and almost all of the operators and scripts remain as they are described in this book.

The layout of the book is extremely clear, it has an excellent operator list/reference in the back, and Matt does a good job of distilling his personal experience in such a way as to help you avoid common pitfalls.

It is an indespensable reference if you do Frontier scripting. Excellent!

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Readable, instructive, a great book about a great tool, February 1, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Frontier: The Definitive Guide (Paperback)
For anybody interested in the flexible and powerful content-management/web design/scripting environment called "Frontier", this book is a must read.

Not only is this book an invaluable resource of "scripting wisdom", Neuburg also qualifies as a teacher in the best sense of the world: No matter where on the "learning curve" you start, he takes you by the hand and enables you to the next steps with this wonderful tool by yourself. A rare achievement in the world of software documentation.

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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Useful reference for users of Radio, February 21, 2005
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This review is from: Frontier: The Definitive Guide (Paperback)
This is useful for those such as I who use intermediate/advanced features of the Radio Userland software, which is written in UserTalk, the language of Frontier. Radio is a great program: you can use its basic features with only basic computer knowledge, but if you are willing to work at it, the program offers tremendous flexibility and user control. This book gives a lot of basic information about the UserTalk language and how it is incorporated into Frontier, and much of this information is relevant for Radio, such as the identity of operators, basic syntax and many of the 'verbs' that carry out basic functions in both Radio and Manila. Unfortunately, it omits some aspects that were added later on, such as the xml and rss verbs, simply because it was published in 1998 and not revised since then.
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