AppleScript vs. JavaScript vs. MoonScript vs. ZenScript 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.

MoonScript is a dynamic scripting language that compiles into Lua. It gives you the power of one of the fastest scripting languages combined with a rich set of features. MoonScript can either be compiled into Lua and run at a later time, or it can be dynamically compiled and run using the moonloader. Because it compiles right into Lua code, it is completely compatible with alternative Lua implementations like LuaJIT, and it is also compatible with all existing Lua code and libraries. The command line tools also let you run MoonScript directly from the command line, like any first-class scripting language. MoonScript provides a clean syntax using significant whitespace that avoids all the keyword noise typically seen in a Lua script. It also adds table comprehensions, implicit return on functions, classes, inheritance, scope management statements import & export, and a convenient object creation statement called with.