X vs. XP has published a comparison of scripting Mac OS X and Windows XP. [macscripter.net]

Basically: Application provided scripting (on OS X) vs access to system APIs if you want to use them in your language (on XP).

I'd also like an X vs Gnome/KDE Scripting comparison.

After the article, I was left wondering how you would extract data from a certain cell in the current Excel spreadsheet in Windows? On the Mac you would write an Applescript and pull the data out of Excel.

On Windows I guess I would write a VBA script inside Excel and make a button somewhere on the spreadsheet that triggers the action.

Having said that, on the Mac, if you want a progress bar in your script you have to use (and depend on) third party extensions (called Scripting Additions) to provide the progress bar, or fire up AppleScript Studio. It sounds like on Windows you script can just call the appropriate API and boom, it's there.

Jon "Wolf" Rentzsch shows how you can get ProjectBuilder/Xcode to play a sound upon finishing a build [rentzsch.com: Tales from the Red Shed]

Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!

While I'm used to the way ProjectBuilder/Xcode signify the end of a build (I think there's a window that shows up on your screen), sounds are a welcome addition to my workflow.

Now, if someone can tell me how to get Xcode to show the Errors/Warnings window if a build failed, that would be great. Currently, when a build fails I think "Hmmm, shouldn't the application have launched by now?", I wait a few seconds, then "Hmm... I wonder if there are any errors..." Annoying, and productivity sapping. At least now I can hear the sound if there are errors.