AppleScript: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

The 'aeut ' Resource

When terminology is resolved, AppleScript itself is represented by a dictionary (see "Resolution of Terminology," earlier in this chapter). This fact comes as a surprise to many AppleScript users, because they don't think of AppleScript as having a dictionary. And no wonder, as they don't normally get to see this dictionary. Nevertheless, it is there. It's called the 'aeut' resource, and it lives in the AppleScript scripting component file, AppleScript.component (inside the package, it's at Contents/Resources/AppleScript.rsrc). It is loaded when the AppleScript scripting component comes into being, it looks basically like any other dictionary, and it defines the terminology for all of AppleScript's built-in commands and classes (except for get and set, which are treated specially).

If you'd like to get a look at the 'aeut' resource, you can; both Smile and Script Debugger permit you to see it, by choosing File → Open Dictionary → AppleScript.

The 'aeut' resource contains the terms for virtually the entire AppleScript language, including comparison operators, prepositions, global script properties, and so forth. There are even some terms not discussed in this book (because in practice they don't arise, or may never even have been implemented, like the upper case class or the print depth global property). You can learn a lot from perusing the 'aeut' resource; at the very least, it can help to explain why certain variable names generate terminology conflicts (when ...