Comment by scroot | Hacker News Reader

Comment by scroot | Hacker News Reader

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> However, these dynamic modifications should also be safe and accessible. I'm thinking of something related to AppleScript here, which allows to automate/scripts an amazingly large number of functions on OS X. Combining this with a browser that enables a user to discover the accessible OS functionality seems to be a good idea.

I have been thinking a lot lately about HyperCard and Applescript. They represent a line of thinking that has more or less been abandoned by the commercial side of personal computing, which is really too bad. Applescript still exists, sure, but they've really let it die on the vine. Back in the late 90s I hoped they would make the whole front end of the OS in a HyperCard like system, so that everything could be manipulated by the user. Don't like how this part of the Finder works? No problem, just peel back a layer and see what's going on.

That's definitely a shame - and, as far as I know none of the open source Unix(-like) systems has exposed a similar functionality. I think D-bus should enable something like it, but I haven't had a closer look at that...

The possibilities of bringing back this way of thinking are tantalizing to me. The intersection of end user programming a discoverable system with the pervasiveness of the cloud could be really awesome. Something like a mashup of Automator, Hypercard, Heroku, and Smalltalk.

The only reason this doesn't exist is simply that nobody has decided to build it yet.

> The only reason this doesn't exist is simply that nobody has decided to build it yet.

It also takes a lot of time and effort, and so needs to be funded along with minimal interference from the bureaucracy of a business. Smalltalk and Hypercard came out of precisely those kind of environments. Today the goals of businesses are much different -- much more short term and quarterly focused. I don't have much faith that FOSS can come up with it either, since so much depends on part time work of loosely connected people.

I hope I'm wrong though!

Working on it…

https://github.com/hhas/iris-script

this is really cool! thank you for sharing

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