|
This Shortcut is 55 pages in length, and gets you up and running with AutoIt very fast. |
| After a short intro and history on this automation framework, the author cuts to the chase to describe data types, variables and scoping. For many programmers, this is the right place to start to get an overview of the language. |
| One of AutoIt's strong points is its ability to display simple to mildly-complex GUIs, without the pain and frustration of Microsoft’s Foundation Classes or the complexities and bulk of the .NET framework. The shortcut jumps right into GUI development very early and rightly so. Several simple examples are provided to get the user’s feet wet, as is an explanation on which event handling mode to use. |
| Several tables are provided which contain the names and descriptions of AutoIts include and UDF (User Defined Function) libraries. The UDFs contain a wealth of free functionality to the AutoIt user, and are contributed by the AutoIt community. |
| More descriptions of the language constructs follow as well as an intro to automation via COM. |
|
Conclusion: This being the first O’Reilly Shortcut I’ve read, I must say that I will look for others like it when working with a new language, framework or technology for the first time. It is more promising than some tutorials I’ve read, and highly recommend it for first-time AutoIt users. For a commuter, one can ease the drudgery of an hour long train ride and come up to speed by the time they arrive at work with an O’Reilly Shortcut. |