gdavis@primate.wisc.edu (Gary Davis) (10/13/90)
From article <33157@nigel.ee.udel.edu>, by johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu: > > IMHO, standardization (insofar as possible) for XCMD's, scripting, and > macro generation should be addressed ASAP by a standards committee composed > of developers who employ 'embedded' language features in their applications. > > The time to discuss *OPEN* standards for scripting language development is > NOW, while the script-able applications for our favorite 'single platform' > still have distinct advantages which can be used to justify the purchase > of more Macs. If scripting degenerates into a 'free-for-all', Apple > stands to lose the competitive advantage it has built through Hypercard I agree completely. IMHO HyperTalk is the best designed of the scripting languages I've seen on the Mac and would be the best starting point for a universal standard. This may be a crazy and impractical suggestion, but one way Apple could help make HyperTalk a standard would be to pull out the HyperTalk parser, etc and make them available either as standard System Toolkits or as a library to be licensed to developers. In the early days of HyperCard, Apple suggested that it would eventually be integrated into the System and that HyperTalk would become a System wide scripting lamguage. What ever happened to that idea? I don't know much about AppleScript, but I understand that it will not be HyperTalk compatible. Anyone know why? One of the things that bothered me most about the transfer of HyperCard to Claris is that it would seem to greatly decrease the likelihood that HyperCard would ever be integrated into the System. Gary Davis