Weird Language Features

[Donal K. Fellows]

John Schmitt <jschmitt at vmlabs.com>
> Doesn't Applescript do something like this?  I recall browsing the docs
> where they mentioned that you can program Applescript in more than one
> dialect.  I guessed from the docs that you can write Applescript program in
> English, French, and Japanese.  If you write an Applescript program in one
> language (ie English), change your dialect (ie to French) and load the
> program in your editor again, the source code will show up in the new
> language  (ie French).  Do I understand that correctly?

It's a Mac, so I've no idea!  I have heard rumours to this effect
though.

However, to me this says that the raw program text is a binary form
that is never actually displayed to anyone in the normal course of
things.  Furthermore, this auto-translation is deeply unlikely to
affect the bits of the program that usually need attention; strings
shown to users (and possibly the names of identifiers in the program
if you need it to be maintained by someone with a different native
language.)  Somehow I'm fairly sure that AppleScript can't change the
language of those automatically (since no-one else in the world can
either, as many manuals are ample demonstration of...  :^)

A downside of this is that it makes it difficult for people in
different countries to discuss applescript properly, since a correct
example fragment for one person might be complete gibberish for
another.  You'd have to pass structured documents about instead of
just plain text messages...  :^(

Donal.
-- 
Donal K. Fellows, Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester, UK.
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