Re: [MacPerl] AEs in realbasic

[Nathaniel Irons <irons@espresso.hampshire.edu>]

On 5/2/99 at 7:14 AM, pudge@pobox.com (Chris Nandor) wrote:

> >Yes.  FaceSpan yields slower final products, isn't threaded, doesn't have a
> >debugger, doesn't use an object-oriented language, can't talk to ODBC
> >datasources, can't cross-compile with Windows, and doesn't have a cool cool
> >cool sprite engine.
> 
> Note that some of the above is entirely irrelevant, as you are comparing a
> language (RealBasic) to a GUI frontend (FaceSpan).  It makes absolutely no
> sense for FaceSpace to talk to ODBC datasource, for instance.

While that's true, it's not unreasonable to compare RealBasic to FaceSpan plus
AppleScript.

To continue your example, the only way I know offhand to programmatically hit
up ODBC on the Mac OS is to use OSA to talk to FileMaker Inc's new "technology
preview" of ODBC for FileMaker.  Aside from being somewhat pre-beta, it adds
an additional troublesome layer of complexity, and it'll set you back about
$120.  Excel may also work, if your ODBC sources are Microsoft-compliant, and
if you're brave enough to tackle Excel's hilarious, incomprehensible scripting
dictionary. 

RealBasic's ODBC support, and sprite engine, and direct Toolbox access, and
myriad other language- or compiler-specific advantages of RB over FaceSpan +
AS, are the same way -- it's not just that they're hard or pricy to do with
AppleScript; it's that they're frequently not practical at all.  

RealBasic isn't a GUI framework, and its AE support is not one of the 
environment's selling points; it just happens to be of particular interest to
anyone pursuing MacPerl integration.  There's a lot of icing on this cake.

> That's why I need some more people to give me feedback on my Mac::Glue
> notes, so I can get the thing out and you can talk to FaceSpan in Perl
> syntax.  :)
> 
>     http://pudge.net/macperl/gluenotes.pod

Thank you for the reminder.  I expect to learn a lot more about apple events
in the near future, and feedback here remains a priority.

  -nat



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