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The WebScript Language

To speed the development cycle, you may want to write your application in a scripting language. The WebObjects scripting language is called WebScript. You can write all or part of your WebObjects application in WebScript.

This chapter tells you everything you need to know to use the WebScript language: its syntax and language constructs. WebScript is very similar to Objective-C. If you already know Objective-C, you may want to just scan this chapter and pay special attention to the section "WebScript for Objective-C Developers", which describes the differences between WebScript and Objective-C.

WebScript is an object-oriented programming language. This chapter attempts to give you a brief introduction to the object-oriented concepts you'll need to know to follow the discussion, but it by no means teaches you object-oriented programming. To learn object-oriented programming, there are several books you can read, such as Object-Oriented Programming and the Objective-C Language.

Objects in WebScript

WebScript Language Elements

Variables

Variables and Scope

Assigning Values to Variables

Methods

Invoking Methods

Accessor Methods

Sending a Message to a Class

Creating Instances of Classes

Data Types

Statements and Operators

Control-Flow Statements

Arithmetic Operators

Logical Operators

Relational Operators

Increment and Decrement Operators

Reserved Words

"Modern" WebScript Syntax

Advanced WebScript

Scripted Classes

Categories

Exception Handling

Raising an Exception

Handling an Exception

Nested Exception Handlers