Time Machine: Spit!!!
in [UK Mac]
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From: Rowland McDonnell on 22 Nov 2009 23:37 Tim Streater <timstreater(a)waitrose.com> wrote: > Rowland McDonnell wrote: > > [snip] > > > For me, the problem is that there seem to be no good learning resources > > for *ANY* scripting language or indeed any programming language I can > > find out about on Macs. > > Have you tried PHP? That has a large set of APIs to all sorts of things, > a reasonable C-like syntax, Yeah, well, a C like syntax does rather make it tricky to use - I've never found a way to learn C, which appears to be intended to be machine-readable rather than human-readable. It's as bad as TeX for being hard to work out what the code does, and harder than TeX to write in the first place AFAICT. A large set of APIs which are sure to be inadequately documented (as is everything these days) is exactly the opposite of any bloody use at all. > easy string handling, and a very good > website where the docs appear to be written in an adult fashion (unlike > perl). I use no other. I expect so, but I also assume that any suggestion you are making is made in bad faith for the purposes of causing me bother. Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking
From: Rowland McDonnell on 22 Nov 2009 23:37 Ben Shimmin <bas(a)llamaselector.com> wrote: > Tim Streater <timstreater(a)waitrose.com>: > > On 22/11/2009 22:09, Rowland McDonnell wrote: > >> For me, the problem is that there seem to be no good learning resources > >> for *ANY* scripting language or indeed any programming language I can > >> find out about on Macs. > > > > Have you tried PHP? That has a large set of APIs to all sorts of things, > > a reasonable C-like syntax, easy string handling, and a very good > > website where the docs appear to be written in an adult fashion (unlike > > perl). I use no other. > > PHP has 53 built-in functions which start with `array'. I think that's > quite a good indication of the sort of language it is. It might be a good indicator to an expert programmer who knows that language and several other programming languages. The rest of us are - as expected - utterly without clue as to what you might be suggesting. But of course Ben has to make a uselessly annoying post, doesn't he? Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking
From: Woody on 23 Nov 2009 03:14 Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote: > Woody <usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk> wrote: > > > Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote: > > > > > Bruce Horrocks <07.013(a)scorecrow.com> wrote: > [snip] > > > > Hmm. I've given up thinking about automation since it's nearly > > > impossible to do any more - decades of `improvements' and that's one > > > thing which is definitely worse. > > > > > > So... Let's see. I can think of two jobs I do manually a lot which are > > > really annoying. > > > > > > I'd like a script that'd dive down a directory tree recursively and move > > > all files matching a specific pattern to the trash. > > > > > > (Job to be done: delete all *.log, *.aux, *.toc, *.lot, *lof, etc files > > > if they are in a directory with a *.tex file of the same filename root) > > > > That one should be pretty simple in any of the scripting languages such > > as python or php, or even non scripting languages such as java on the > > mac. > > Simple for experts in those languages, I'm sure. It is, and people that casually know them. If you want a script to do that, just say what you want and I am sure many people here would write you one. > >I am sure it is probably simple in some of the shell languages or > > built in commands for those who know them (I say probably, as I don't do > > the unix scripting languages). > > Of course it is - but I need teaching to learn how to do any of it. > Available written materials have proven impossible for me to learn from > and believe me I've tried - lots. I can't get started with *ANY* of > them. I need human assistance to get me started. With that, I can > usually carry on alone once I've got over the initial `hump'. > > But of course these days, if you can't understand the written docs, > almost all the experts who know how to help will just sneer at you and > insult you. In which case they aren't experts who know how to help. > > > And one to open a pdf file in Preview, change page size/orientation to > > > DL envelope/landscape, identify which pages in the pdf file have a paper > > > size matching DL envelope (job made easier by the fact that they're all > > > at the end - and I'd not mind typing in a single number if the machine > > > couldn't work that bit out), print 'em out using single sided best > > > quality printing (defined by a preset), and then put page > > > size/orientation back to A4 portrait. > > > > That sounds like an applescript thing. Never managed to get anything > > useful out of applescript. > > I did, once, after huge effort - then it all broke when I upgraded the > OS. Not very useful of either of us to make such comments though, is > it? No, it is just a comment, hardly meant to be 'useful' -- Woody www.alienrat.com
From: Tim Streater on 23 Nov 2009 04:58 On 23/11/2009 01:07, Ben Shimmin wrote: > Tim Streater<timstreater(a)waitrose.com>: >> On 22/11/2009 22:09, Rowland McDonnell wrote: >>> For me, the problem is that there seem to be no good learning resources >>> for *ANY* scripting language or indeed any programming language I can >>> find out about on Macs. >> >> Have you tried PHP? That has a large set of APIs to all sorts of things, >> a reasonable C-like syntax, easy string handling, and a very good >> website where the docs appear to be written in an adult fashion (unlike >> perl). I use no other. > > PHP has 53 built-in functions which start with `array'. I think that's > quite a good indication of the sort of language it is. And over 90 for string handling. And we haven't even started on those to allow access to the file system, or to interface to other packages such as SQLite, mysql, etc, and so on. Why do you think I use it? Just for that reason! So your point is what, exactly? -- Tim "That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted" Bill of Rights 1689
From: Tim Streater on 23 Nov 2009 05:08
On 23/11/2009 04:37, Rowland McDonnell wrote: > Tim Streater<timstreater(a)waitrose.com> wrote: > >> Rowland McDonnell wrote: >> >> [snip] >> >>> For me, the problem is that there seem to be no good learning resources >>> for *ANY* scripting language or indeed any programming language I can >>> find out about on Macs. >> >> Have you tried PHP? That has a large set of APIs to all sorts of things, >> a reasonable C-like syntax, > > Yeah, well, a C like syntax does rather make it tricky to use - I've > never found a way to learn C, which appears to be intended to be > machine-readable rather than human-readable. It's as bad as TeX for > being hard to work out what the code does, and harder than TeX to write > in the first place AFAICT. PHP is in fact simpler that C in as much as you don't have to declare variables. You just use a variable for whatever purpose you want. And string handling is quite easy (unlike C). > A large set of APIs which are sure to be inadequately documented (as is > everything these days) is exactly the opposite of any bloody use at all. Not the case, in fact. You can be sure I'd be the first to bin any language like that. I don't like shell languages because they look like line-noise, so I find PHP to be a good replacement. >> easy string handling, and a very good >> website where the docs appear to be written in an adult fashion (unlike >> perl). I use no other. > > I expect so, but I also assume that any suggestion you are making is > made in bad faith for the purposes of causing me bother. Here we're dealing with a technical question. If however you make a statement like "there are people I'd like to shove red hot pokers up the bums of", then you can expect a different reaction. -- Tim "That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted" Bill of Rights 1689 |