Script Debugger

Script Debugger is a Macintosh computer source code editor and debugging environment for the AppleScript programming language, and other languages based on Apple Inc.'s Open Scripting Architecture. It is a product of Late Night Software.

History
Script Debugger version 1.0 was released in 1995 by Mark Alldritt as a third-party alternative to Apple's freeware application, Script Editor. Its competitors at that time included ScriptWizard and Main Event Software's popular Scripter. These two products today are defunct, leaving only Satimage's Smile and integrated development environments such as FaceSpan (also from Late Night) and AppleScript Studio as Script Debugger's current competitors in the field.

Version 1 on the program contained several notable features, such as: it was "scriptable" (it could be used to create scripts to control itself), recordable (it could create scripts based on user actions), and attachable (scripts could be written to respond to events). More importantly, Script Debugger now allowed inspection of running applications to see what events they were emitting. The new utility also contained a full debugger, with support for breakpoints.

Script Debugger has since won many awards in the Macintosh scripting community. Version 1 received "5 mice" from MacUser and 4 stars from MacWEEK. Version 2 received the 2000 Macworld Eddy for "Best Development Software", and received "4.5 mice" from both MacUser and Macworld.

On February 9, 2006, version 4 of Script Debugger was released. This version was completely rewritten to take advantage of the new Cocoa and Tiger APIs. The new release also included an improved version of the JavaScript OSA scripting component.

Version 5 of Script Debugger was released in June 2012.

Version 6 of Script Debugger was released in June 2016, with support for new features such as code folding and AppleScriptObjC.

Version 7 of Script Debugger was released in March 2018, introducing the free "Lite" mode and new features such as version browsing, enhanced applets, and better bundle editing.

Version 8 of Script Debugger was released in May 2021, introducing support for macOS Big Sur and Apple Silicon. Other notables features in Script Debugger 8 include support for Dark Mode, and the ability to generate standalone script applications that support code signing and notarizing.