I don’t like AppleScript, to be perfectly honest. However, its deceptively English-like language was something that reminded me of the HyperCard glory days of my childhood, which where the only reason a non-programming historian like myself every made me want to tinker with coding.
I would love to really get good at languages like Python and Ruby, especially after a few years of playing with a muddy language like PHP. However, I just haven’t ever gotten around to it.
A number of sites I have come across mention rb-appscript. This will allow you to write Ruby scripts that can script applications normally only scriptable by AppleScript. While I haven’t tried it and it doesn’t seem to be too useful for AppleScript Studio, it may be worth a look for people who are frustrated by the limitations of AppleScript and want the power and beauty of Ruby.
The homepage can be found here:
Here is information on how to install it. If you have the developer tools installed, this may amount to nothing more than the command:
sudo gem install rb-appscript
If you want a solution to help you use Ruby for developing Cocoa applications, there is something called Ruby Cocoa, which provides a bridge to Cocoa. I’m reluctant to go out and learn Ruby only to find that the frustrations I already have with an official Apple supported environment like AppleScript Studio in XCode might be compounded when working through this kind of bridge environment. If Ruby Cocoa continues to mature and grow wider in support, I may eventually jump the AppleScript wagon and study the Ruby Way.