AppleScript vs. AutoIt vs. Bash vs. Python Comparison Chart

AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple. It allows users to directly control scriptable Macintosh applications, as well as parts of macOS itself. You can create scripts, and sets of written instructions, to automate repetitive tasks, combine features from multiple scriptable applications, and create complex workflows. AppleScript 2.0 can use scripts developed for any version of AppleScript from 1.1 through 1.10.7, any scripting addition created for AppleScript 1.5 or later for macOS, and any scriptable application for Mac OS v7.1 or later. A scriptable application is one that can be controlled by a script. For AppleScript, that means being responsive to inter-application messages, called Apple events, sent when a script command targets the application. AppleScript itself provides a very small number of commands, but it provides a framework into which you can plug many task-specific commands, those provided by scriptable applications and scriptable parts of macOS.

Bash is a free software Unix shell and command language. It has become the default login shell for most Linux distributions. In addition to being available on Linux systems, a version of Bash is also available for Windows through the Windows Subsystem for Linux. Bash is the default user shell in Solaris 11 and was the default shell in Apple macOS from version 10.3 until the release of macOS Catalina, which changed the default shell to zsh. Despite this change, Bash remains available as an alternative shell on macOS systems. As a command processor, Bash allows users to enter commands in a text window that are then executed by the system. Bash can also read and execute commands from a file, known as a shell script. It supports a number of features commonly found in Unix shells, including wildcard matching, piping, here documents, command substitution, variables, and control structures for condition testing and iteration. Bash is compliant with the POSIX shell standards.