If This then That

Despite appearances to the contrary (and the turbulence and that chaos that often lingers beneath the surface) I tend to be an organized, even methodical person.

I spent a day or two this week setting up some automated functions for InDesign, repetitive tasks that could be done for me, much more quickly. (I don't know why I didn't do this ages ago.) This involves writing what amounts to rudimentary computer programs in AppleScript, though not so much with computer code as a series of mostly familiar words and phrases (tell, repeat, if, then, of, else, end, that sort of thing). The phrasing is key, though, and the pieces do need to be organized in a specific way for the scripts to do anything useful.

I've dabbled in AppleScript off and on through the years — enough to be familiar with the structure, less so with the details. But I understand enough to get by, and I know enough to be able to pull bits of code from here and there to build what I want.

Many people would find it all maddening, even though AppleScript is designed to be as accessible as possible. I enjoy the complexity. It's all just the pieces of a puzzle, everything has to fit together in a particular way, or none of it makes sense.

I've often thought of trying my hand at more complex programming projects. I started reading up on C many, many years ago, but I never found the time to pursue it (and I've long since forgotten anything I might have learned). It's been on my mind off and on for several months, and I want to try again — if for no other reason than to convince myself that my mind is still dexterous at 45.