Beginning Mac OS® X Programming

10.8. Other Scripting Languages

Unfortunately, there isn't enough room in this book to cover all of the scripting languages shipped with Mac OS X. Five of the more important languages have been addressed, but many other good languages have had to be omitted. The following list gives you a very brief overview of some of these remaining scripting languages:

• Ruby: A relatively new language with similarities to Python. It is an OO language, with very advanced features that are not even found in Python. The RubyCocoa framework allows you to write Cocoa applications in Ruby (http://www.fobj.com/rubycocoa/doc/). You can learn more about Ruby at the Ruby website (http://www.ruby-lang.org).

• PHP: A language used mostly to build websites. It can be mixed with HTML to produce web pages that get dynamically built by the web server whenever requested by a client web browser. PHP allows you to easily integrate a database with your website, upload files via a web page, send emails from web forms, and much more. For general information on PHP, there is the PHP website (http://www.php.net/), and for an introduction to PHP on Mac OS X, you need look no further than the Apple Developer Connection (http://developer.apple.com/internet/opensource/php.html).

• Tcl: An easy-to-use scripting language tightly integrated with the Tk GUI toolkit. This combination allows you to write cross-platform GUI applications, though you shouldn't expect the polish of a Cocoa application. The Tcl/Tk frameworks provided with ...