JavaScript OSA, (originally ''JavaScript for OSA'', abbreviated as ''JSOSA''), is a

freeware Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...

inter-process communication In computer science, interprocess communication (IPC) is the sharing of data between running Process (computing), processes in a computer system. Mechanisms for IPC may be provided by an operating system. Applications which use IPC are often cat ...

scripting language In computing, a script is a relatively short and simple set of instructions that typically automation, automate an otherwise manual process. The act of writing a script is called scripting. A scripting language or script language is a programming ...

for the Macintosh computer. JavaScript OSA uses the "core language" of the

Mozilla Mozilla is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, publishes and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting free software and open standards. The community is supported institution ...

implementation of the

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

, (see

SpiderMonkey SpiderMonkey is an open-source JavaScript and WebAssembly engine by the Mozilla Foundation. The engine powers the Firefox Web browser and has used multiple generations of JavaScript just-in-time (JIT) compilers, including TraceMonkey, Jäg ...

). The language is used as an alternative to the

AppleScript AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. that facilitates automated control of Mac applications. First introduced in System 7, it is currently included in macOS in a package of automation tools. The term ''AppleScript'' may ...

language. Its use is unrelated to

web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

-based scripting. It can be seen as having a similar function to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

's JScript .NET language on Windows machines, although there is no interoperability between the two languages' system-level scripting.

Description

The language is identical to Mozilla's core language, with extensions added via a "Core" object and a "MacOS" object. The MacOS object has methods for obtaining objects that are bound to

applications Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...

. This is done via the AppleEvent messaging system, a part of the Macintosh's

Open Scripting Architecture AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. that facilitates automated control of Mac applications. First introduced in System 7, it is currently included in macOS in a package of automation tools. The term ''AppleScript'' may re ...

. The language was first released in 2001, and was bundled with Late Night Software's flagship product, Script Debugger. In May 2005, a new "alpha" version of the language was made available for testing. This improved second version of the language was bundled with version 4 of Script Debugger. JavaScript OSA was eventually discontinued due to lack of interest and was dropped from Script Debugger 5 in 2012.

Alternatives

OS X Yosemite OS X Yosemite ( ; version 10.10) is the eleventh major release of macOS, Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Yosemite was announced and released to developers on June 2, 2014, at WWDC 2014 and re ...

introduced JavaScript for Automation (JXA): system-wide support for scripting with

, built upon

JavaScriptCore WebKit is a browser engine primarily used in Apple's Safari web browser, as well as all web browsers on iOS and iPadOS. WebKit is also used by the PlayStation consoles starting with the PS3, the Tizen mobile operating systems, the Amazon ...

and the

. It features an

Objective-C Objective-C is a high-level general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style message passing (messaging) to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was ...

bridge which enables entire Cocoa applications to be programmed in JavaScript.

References

External links

Late Night Software
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Javascript Osa Macintosh-only software Scripting languages