Im writing this article in BBEdit, an app for which I began writing AppleScripts over 15 years ago. I use some of those 15-plus-year-old scripts today and every day. I write new scripts all the time. The details of what I use it for dont matter so much as the bottom line, which is that AppleScript allows me to add my own features to the apps I use mostfeatures that may well not make sense for the typical user but which save me time and aggravation.
And in a very real sense, modern AppleScript has quietly achieved its original goal of enabling non-programmers to create their own softwarenot through AppleScript scripting but instead through Automator, which is built on the same underlying technology and is arguably more popular than its predecessor.
AppleScript has survived and remained relevant during a turbulent decade-long transition, despite its unbeloved language syntax and technical hurdles, for the simple reason that it solves real-world problems in a way that no other OS X technology does. In theory, AppleScript could be much better; in practice, though, its the best thing we have that works. It exemplifies the Macs advantages over iOS for tinkerers and advanced users.
