Autocoding project proposal.

[David Masterson]

>>>>> Jonathan Hogg writes:

> AppleScript (to continue my example) has a few basic commands (OK,
> it also has a lot that aren't basic, but run with me...). For
> instance (not tested, don't bother ratting on me if I get them
> wrong):

>     * Selecting an application:

>         tell application "Finder" to ...

>     * Getting a thing from an application:

>         ... get the startup disk

>     * Identifying a thing in terms of a container:

>         ... get the folder "Documents" of the startup disk

>     * Sending a command:

>         ... move the folder "Documents" of the startup disk to the trash

> These are simple concepts that most people can quickly grasp, but
> the devil is in the details. The hard thing is mapping the things
> that the application works with into terms that the user can
> understand. Things such as "folder", "trash", etc.

Whoa!  Shades of COBOL...

> Apple manage this by asking programmers to write a dictionary for
> their application and to document it. The dictionary and the
> documentation are built into the application itself, and any user
> can point the Script Editor (an application that comes with every
> Mac) at an application and ask for this documentation. The Script
> Editor application uses the application supplied dictionary to check
> that the commands entered by the user are legal.

Whoa!  Shades of Emacs...

-- 
David Masterson                dmaster AT synopsys DOT com
Sr. R&D Engineer               Synopsys, Inc.
Software Engineering           Sunnyvale, CA