Language Guide

What Is AppleScript? 3
CHAPTER 1
AppleScript, Scripts, and
Scriptable Applications 1
Figure 1-0
Listing 1-0
Table 1-0
This chapter introduces the AppleScript scripting language. It answers
these questions:
■ What is AppleScript?
■ What are scripts?
■ Who runs scripts, and who writes them?
■ How is AppleScript different from other scripting mechanisms?
■ What can you do with scripts?
■ What applications are scriptable?
What Is AppleScript? 1
AppleScript is a scripting language that allows you to control Macintosh
computers without using the keyboard or mouse. AppleScript lets you use
series of written instructions, known as scripts, to control applications and the
desktop. Figure 1-1 shows the difference between changing the text style of a
paragraph with the mouse and performing the same task with a script.