Autoit: A Full Fledged Language One Day?

[darknuke]

Most of the structured languages are the same.  If you learn AutoIt, VB, C, php, whatever then you should be able to pick up any language just by seeing a few examples.  I wrote some php the other day for the first time by looking at a small section of code first and my thought processes were:

- ok, i see that lines end in ;

- joining strings seems to be done with . rather than the more usual + or & - how odd

- variables seem to only be valid outside of strings (like autoit)

- here are a bunch of loops

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Variables are valid in PHP strings. Many people don't realize this or don't utilize it.

print "Hi my name is $variable.";

I agree, after learning the most commonly used syntax's (BASIC & C) you can easily learn other ones that may have a few differences, but are relatively the same.

Edited August 28, 2004 by darknuke

[Guest Guidosoft]

Variables are valid in PHP strings. Many people don't realize this or don't utilize it.

print "Hi my name is $variable.";

I agree, after learning the most commonly used syntax's (BASIC & C) you can easily learn other ones that may have a few differences, but are relatively the same.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Does anybody know where I can get FORTH. I have to learn every single computer language there is so I can become THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER WIZARD!

[Nutster]

A joke I came up with after writing a 14-page program that was just a template/stub program. I would insert the parts of my program to do the actual work for the assignment in the template.

A 14-page COBOL program says "Hello World."

A 14-page BASIC (or Fortran or Pascal or ...) program says "Hello World" in every known language.

A 14-page C program says "Hello World" because it feels like it.

[Jon]

Two C strings walk into a bar.  The first one says, “Bartender! Bartender! I want a drink!”

The second one says, “Bartender! Bartender! I want a drink too! &8789&*&&^&^gGFHGK.”

The first one says, “Please excuse my friend.  He isn't null terminated.”

[Valik]

Is it wrong that I:

1) Get Jon's joke...

2) Find it slightly humorous...

[Richard Robertson]

what did the bartender say?

[Jon]

Is it wrong that I:

1) Get Jon's joke...

2) Find it slightly humorous...

When I first saw it i laughed and then said to myself "Jon, you f**king geek!"

[Jos]

When I first saw it i laughed and then said to myself "Jon, you f**king geek!"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It might be your version of the joke.... maybe Valik likes CyberSlugs version better ? Post

That just reminded me of this joke:

These two strings walk into a bar and sit down. The bartender says, "So what'll it be?"

The first string says, "I think I'll have a beer quag fulk boorg jdk^CjfdLk jk3s d#f67howe%^U r89nvy~~owmc63^Dz x.xvcu"

"Please excuse my friend," the second string says, "He isn't null-terminated." 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[JSThePatriot]

I voted maybe, because I have had a good bit of exposure to the programming environment. I have about 5 different languages that I understand the structure of. I am trying to learn AutoIt currently. Everything that I have seen to date is excellent. The help file I think might need a bit more revision for just a bit of a startup application, but once someone gets a feel for autoit the helpfile is more than enough especially when you combine it with the knowledge here in this forum.

I plan on fully learning AutoIt after which time I am going to learn C++ of which I have wanted to learn for a long time. I am sure I will be using AutoIt for a long time.

I really appreciate everyone that has made all of this possible to this point. If and when I get C++ down I know I would be interested in helping this application push its way to the top without flaw.

Thank you again for all the help that I have recieved.

JS

[Guest bluefish]

I don't think it will become a full fledged scripting language.

The strength of Autoit is it's ability to automate tasks on Windows. That binds it to a single operating system. Autoit scripts are not portable. That will keep a lot of open source developers from using it.

Compared to other languages that have grown over the last ten years or even longer, Autoit also lacks more datatypes and libraries. That's where most languages get their power from. Take a look at the small utility scripts posted in this forum. Many of them are on a level that is already covered by standard library functions in other languages.

Building a complete standard library that allows Autoit to compete with VB, Perl, Python or TCL would take years while essentially not gaining anything because those functions all have been written before for all those languages.

Also a language design is difficult to get right and there is ample opportunity for failure there.

Personally I would like to see Autoit build on its strong side: windows GUI automation. There are still a lot of standard widgets that are only generally supported. There are very few functions to read information from an application.

I'm using the ActiveX-control from Python for test automation. So far, Autoit makes it easier for me to control the application, but it doesn't help very much in determining the current state of the application. As a result I still have write a lot of code around and beside the Autoit functions. It would be cool if Autoit could take over some of that functionality.

[Guest Guidosoft]

Guido sticks tong out at bluefish

WHERE CAN I GET FORTH AND LISP AND ETC????!?!?!?

[Valik]

Do you ever use a search engine to search for things, or do you just post and wait and wait and wait and hope somebody does the miniscule amount of work necessary for you?

[emmanuel]

Guido sticks tong out at bluefish

WHERE CAN I GET FORTH AND LISP AND ETC????!?!?!?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

great way to respond to a well thought out statement of opinion.

[Guest Guidosoft]

great way to respond to a well thought out statement of opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thanx.

[emmanuel]

thanx.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

wow, the sarcasm was completly lost on you, wasn't it?

[Guest Guidosoft]

wow, the sarcasm was completly lost on you, wasn't it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

cool.

[Jon]

I don't think it will become a full fledged scripting language.

The strength of Autoit is it's ability to automate tasks on Windows. That binds it to a single operating system. Autoit scripts are not portable. That will keep a lot of open source developers from using it.

Compared to other languages that have grown over the last ten years or even longer, Autoit also lacks more datatypes and libraries. That's where most languages get their power from. Take a look at the small utility scripts posted in this forum. Many of them are on a level that is already covered by standard library functions in other languages.

Building a complete standard library that allows Autoit to compete with VB, Perl, Python or TCL would take years while essentially not gaining anything because those functions all have been written before for all those languages.

Also a language design is difficult to get right and there is ample opportunity for failure there.

Personally I would like to see Autoit build on its strong side: windows GUI automation. There are still a lot of standard widgets that are only generally supported. There are very few functions to read information from an application.

I'm using the ActiveX-control from Python for test automation. So far, Autoit makes it easier for me to control the application, but it doesn't help very much in determining the current state of the application. As a result I still have write a lot of code around and beside the Autoit functions. It would be cool if Autoit could take over some of that functionality.

I agree with a lot of that. I always intended the language/syntax to support the scripting/automation tasks that I wanted to implement. Not for all the effort (and exe size) going into trying to make it the worlds best language. It's why I tend to resist a lot of syntax changes that would be "cool" but aren't 100% necessary. I think the balance so far is pretty good.

[emmanuel]

And btw, I'd rather autoit stay and grow as a kickass scripting language instead of becoming a 'full fledged' language. I probably will go on to learn other languages to see what else they can do, but until I have a need, AutoIt does what I need and it does it well. It make dealing with Windows and it's app installs alot easier, as well as being 10x better than batch files.

I agree with a lot of that.  I always intended the language/syntax to support the scripting/automation tasks that I wanted to implement.  Not for all the effort (and exe size) going into trying to make it the worlds best language.  It's why I tend to resist a lot of syntax changes that would be "cool" but aren't 100% necessary.  I think the balance so far is pretty good.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Guest Guidosoft]

as well as being 10x better than batch files

10x better? HELL NO!!!!

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0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

0000000000000000000000000000000000000 = x

x to the second power = y.

y to the y power. That's howq much better it is!!!! YEA BABY YEA!!!!

[SilverKey]

I vote probably not because that is my hope. I am longtime vba user recently interested in and learning VB (ver 5.0 because it is cheap now and .net doesn't support DDE which I must have) (ver 5.0 books are also super-cheap).

I use AutoIt at work to populate database entry fields from drop-down lists...

It could probably have been done with vbscript but I stumbled on and tried it with AutoIt first. The executable-able AutoIt scripts I wrote save me and 5 other peers of mine LOADS of time. Very simple scripts and yet immensely helpful. Most of my 5 peers aren't as pc-literate as me (and I'm a relative novice), so they think I worked magic. I DON'T WANT AutoIt to balloon much beyond where it is now. I like the 'parameters' of AutoIt now because I can just about get my mind around it. I would like to explore how much can be done with it as is. I am new to this forum and haven't read you guys neat scripts yet. Looking fwd to it. I recommend AutoIt to people I work with who are interested in learning to program just because it is not so vast and intimidating as the full-fledged languages and the help does just that.

Guido - if you have a pocketPC (Cassiopeia E-125s are super and now cheap on Ebay) you can get DSForth free online. Then you can program on-the-go.

Work hard to be greatest programmer ever because most people's mathematical cognitive powers peak before age 25. There is much Forth-centric sites on w3.

I dabbled but it's too low-level to be entertaining. Forth controls satellites! though.