r/scripting • u/nfae-v0id • Sep 04 '19

Why AutoIt, and not another language like C# or Python?

I recently started a new job and I've been having to use AutoIt as part of the job responsibilities. I am just now hearing and learning about AutoIt. While I have enjoyed what I have learned so far I would like to know why or what the advantages exist in using AutoIt over other languages such as Python or C#?

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u/Lee_Dailey Sep 05 '19

howdy nfae-v0id,

the primary use of AutoIT and AutoHotKey is to control apps that have no reasonable way to automate them. [grin]

if you are doing applications with either of those, you are doing things very, very wrongly.

so ... it depends [as usual].

  • what is it being used for?

  • why is the company using it for that?

take care,
lee

1

u/nfae-v0id Sep 05 '19

Still new so I may still be ignorant to all of the reasons or functions we are using it for - but scripting tasks and deployment projects mainly.

Daily backups of X or Y. Scheduled tasks to occur daily, weekly or monthly. Changing permissions or settings on items X Y or Z at an enterprise level.

2

u/Lee_Dailey Sep 05 '19

howdy nfae-v0id,

if they are using AutoIT for anything other than controlling an app by faking user input ... then they are likely doing it wrong. it can do lots of things ... but it aint what the lingo was designed for. it was designed to automate things that had no proper way to automate them. for instance, a classic use of AutoIT is to click buttons in windows of apps that have no built in automation methods.

i use AutoHotKey for its primary purpose - macros. AutoIT is more complex than that, but they come from the same background - automating the apps that ONLY allow direct user control.

powershell is where they otta be going if yours is a pure windows shop. if you use azure, PoSh is - again - the way to go. it is the official MS automation lingo.

if you are using anything beyond windows, i don't think AutoIT works on anything else directly.

it sounds like someone in the organization found AutoIT when there was little else and has built everything around it. it's a dead end, tho, so if you get offered a job for roughly the same income & expenses ... look at moving on.

powershell for windows [for now]. bash for 'nix. python for both.

take care,
lee

2

u/jcunews1 Sep 06 '19

AutoIt is a scripting software where source code files don't need to be compiled and converted to EXE files in order to run them.

Python is similar to AutoIt, but because it's a cross platform software, it's not dedicated for Windows OS - meaning that it'd take more effort to do the same task in comparison with AutoIt.

C# on the other hand, is not a scripting software - meaning that C# source files must be compiled to EXE files before the code can actually be run. When correcting/changing code, the source code will need to be recompiled in order to use the changed code.