AppleScript

since unknown year (earliest usage recorded on this site was 1987)

Users

Technology Timeline Graph

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

boutell

coordt

yacitus

jacobian

rragan

jorjun

mjhagen

patricktaylor

ptone

metavida

rah

bob

seanbrant

bkmontgomery

joemcmahon

bmaxwell

reed

andyrak

tomh

jjames

sdhamilton

krisse2

claytron

CerealBoy

natevw

daniellindsley

boutell - 1 years

coordt - 24 years

yacitus - 24 years

jacobian - 23 years

rragan - 3 years

jorjun - 23 years

mjhagen - 4 years

patricktaylor - 11 years

ptone - 18 years

metavida - 15 years

rah - 14 years

bob - 12 years

seanbrant - 1 years

bkmontgomery - 9 years

joemcmahon - 9 years

bmaxwell - 8 years

reed - 2 years

andyrak - 8 years

tomh - 3 years

jjames - 1 years

sdhamilton - 7 years

krisse2 - 6 years

claytron - 6 years

CerealBoy - 5 years

natevw - 5 years

daniellindsley - 5 years

boutell

1987

I wrote a virus in AppleScript, just to show it could be done, then sensibly destroyed it, which is why I'm not the villain of any incredibly unrealistic early-nineties hacker movies.

coordt

1987–2010

yacitus

1990–

I've played with it off and on, including writing some scripts a few years ago (which I still use) to help me manage podcasts in iTunes. But I wouldn't say I know the language. I always have to look at other examples and dig around to write even the simplest bit of code. I think the designers' attempt to make it english-like made if difficult to grok.

rragan

1991–1993

jorjun

1991–

One of those overly verbose 'friendly' languages. Did very little with it, besides recording Finder actions and checking the result.

jacobian

1991–

mjhagen

1993–1996

patricktaylor

1994–2004

Hard to use it before mid-1992 because that was when they had the first alpha release, I suspect that people are confusing it with HyperTalk, the HyperCard scripting language. I found AppleScript interesting but more for simple workflow automation than as a "programming language" per se.

ptone

1996–

Probably the language I first got serious with - the maddeningly loose syntax drove me to UserTalk where I first got deep into projects. I still have a few small projects where I go to Applescript first - but now try to use Appscript with Python

metavida

1999–

Even though I hate the documentation, & the "natural language" syntax is always confusing to me, it's still great for those little time-saving scripts.

2000–

2002–

2004

2005–

Checked it out when I got my first mac. Not super impressed with the language, but it's quite powerful since it's so tightly integrated into the OS.

joemcmahon

2005–

Wrote a script to generate a ChucK program to play the Clock of the Long Now chimes. Still use it for automation on OS X.

reed

2006–2007

Project for Apple

bmaxwell

2006–

andyrak

2006–

sdhamilton

2007–

Weird syntax, it's almost English. Tell Finder to Open... Use it when Automator doesn't do what I want.

jjames

2007

If I told you why and how I've used this language, I'd have to kill you. It feels more like remorse than regret.

tomh

2007–2009

Have pretty much given up and moved to Objective-C now. Hate the Syntax.

claytron

2008–

I've written some utility scripts for iChat and iTunes in Applescript. It's amazing that I still have my sanity. Natural language means, always look up the bass ackwards syntax.

krisse2

2008–

natevw

2009–

While the syntax makes learning the full language difficult and the "standard library" is designed to thwart production work, this odd little invention has grown on me a bit.

2009–

2009–

I HATE THE SYNTAX.