There is still the issue of Javascript implementation portability. You can't count on each vendor adhering to standards. If you are lucky, the code that you want to implement will run on all browsers. Worst case, you will have to sniff the OS & browser and branch accordingly. It is a lot more work, which is why you still see sites advertising "IE Explorer only". Like my company, for example. The time entry system breaks with Firefox, only works with IE. Once the maintainers of that system realized this, they put browser sniffers in which would warn the user that only IE would work. At least they didn't put in blocking code.
--Doug On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 9:12 PM, Russ Abbott <[email protected]> wrote: > An interesting feature of this thread is that at first I thought you were > after "the best" scripting language or something like that. When I finally > understood that what you wanted really was the most widely accessible > scripting language, the question took on a completely different meaning. It > changed from being a discussion of scripting languages as such to the more > practical question of how to distribute some functionality as widely and > effortlessly as possible. > > -- Russ > > On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 8:04 PM, Russ Abbott <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Before sending that script I looked for a way for JavaScript to access the >> local file system. I couldn't find one. Sorry. But that doesn't mean there >> isn't one. >> >> -- Russ >> >> >> On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 7:53 PM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> I *like* it! Probably the most universal, and can even be run locally. >>> Possibly even as a bookmarklet. And luckily for all of us, the DOM >>> standards let javascript access user input in a fairly elegant way. >>> >>> BUT: the pipe paradigm of unix shells allows you to have the input be a >>> file and the output to be piped into a file or another program. Our browser >>> approach only lets us use literal text in and out. No big deal, but I >>> wonder if there's a hack to get directly at the javascript language within >>> the browser, and to use it like a command line command. >>> >>> I think, however, your answer is likely the winner. >>> >>> -- Owen >>> >>> >>> >>> On Dec 27, 2008, at 8:01 PM, Russ Abbott wrote: >>> >>> JavaScript sure seems like a simple solution. Here's a primitive >>>> version of >>>> one possibility. >>>> >>>> <html> >>>> <head> >>>> <script> >>>> function transform(input) { >>>> output.value = "transformed version of:\n" + input; >>>> } >>>> </script> >>>> </head> >>>> <body> >>>> Copy the text to be translated into this text area and press "Go". <br >>>> /> >>>> <textarea id = "input" cols = 100></textarea> >>>> <input type=button value="Go" >>>> onclick="transform(document.getElementById('input').value);" /> >>>> <br /> >>>> <textarea id = "output" cols = 100></textarea> >>>> </body> >>>> </html> >>>> >>>> -- Russ >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 5:59 PM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> On Dec 27, 2008, at 4:04 PM, Marcus G. Daniels wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> What language could I write a script in (no graphics, simply text in, >>>>>> >>>>>>> text out) that would run on all the computers used by Friam folks? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> Javascript! >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> Well, it is certainly lurking on all of our systems that have a >>>>> browser, >>>>> that's for sure! But if I just send folks a javascript file, how are >>>>> they >>>>> to execute it, and how are they to specify stdin/out? >>>>> >>>>> I really am serious here: I'd like to know which scripting language and >>>>> runtime is reasonably likely to be on our systems. Its pretty grim if >>>>> there's not a reasonable answer! >>>>> >>>>> The specific stunt I'm looking at takes a text file in, and converts it >>>>> to >>>>> morse code. Also the reverse, take in morse code and translate it to >>>>> ascii. >>>>> Dead simple and kinda fun. But to share it with others, I'd like a >>>>> script >>>>> that could work on most systems. >>>>> >>>>> -- Owen >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> ============================================================ >>>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>>> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >>>>> >>>>> ============================================================ >>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>>> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >>>> >>> >>> >> > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
