Novel Thoughts on Scripting and Languages

Tue Jan 7 22:42:56 EST 2003

> > Have you ever thought about scripting more areas, such
> > as SQL, XML, EJB, SGML, HTTP, E-mail and GUI, the way you
> > script OS commands, all at once? Think about it!
> 
> Heehee... we're already doing that. I guess you haven't used Python much,
> huh? :)
> 

This is an example of scripting:

  sendMail
     from:  'me at here.com'
       to:  'a at b.com, b at c.com'
       cc:  'd at e.com'
  subject:  'test test'
   attach:  'bin.jar'
     body:  [[*
                blah blah blah
                blah blah
            *]]
 htmlBody:  [[*
                <html><body><b>Blah</b> blah
                </body></html>
            *]]
 ;

I searched for a Python email example, found one at
   http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/67083
a peek will do. I wish I had explained better with examples, but ...

> > Perhaps back then, it was satisfactory enough to script
> > just OS commands. Not any more! Today, SQL, XML, HTML,
> > HTTP and E-mail are a part of our everyday lives. A
> > language tool capable of scripting all these will put
> > tremendous power in the hands of innovative programmers.
> > The good news is, such a tool has emerged -- JudoScript.
> 
> Oh... this is an advertisement. Never mind.
> 
> > JudoScript is a general-purpose, Java scripting,
> > multi-domain language. It is a general-purpose
> > programming language, fully capable of Java scripting,
> > and supports many applcation features in a
> > domain-specific way that include:
> 
> Could you please explain how scripting, e.g. ActiveX (per the article on
> your site) is any better (heck, any _different_ for that matter) than
> doing it in, e.g. Python? I looked at the example code and it is nearly
> identical to the Python equivalent (well, I only looked at the Internet
> Explorer example - once I saw that it was virtually identical to the
> Python version I stopped reading).
> 

Python for ActiveX is a right thing, and this creates another
variant of Python. Another famous one is Jython.
I would foresee Python evolving even further.

> > What about Python and Perl? One thing you need to
> 
> I got a kick out of this statement on your site:
> 
> "which is a much better effort than Python libraries because Java is an
> established system programming language , designed for and capable of
> building big software applications"
> 
> I guess I don't know who your intended audience is, because to me such a
> statement really lowers your credibility. If you'd like I'd be happy to
> help rewrite it to at least make it accurate.
> 

I've heard big software projects done in Python, guess that's what you
are referring to. Being a C/C++/Java guy, it is hard for me to imagine
creating big software with weakly-typed languages beyond prototyping.
But I am not a religious programmer, so maybe someday I might change
on this. Even so, Java is still unbeatable.

> Have fun,
> Dave

Thanks for your response,
-James