Scripting for end users

After reading the John O'Conner Blog about scripting, i want to share some thoughts.
First, embedding script in a desktop application is not new, Mozilla Firefox, Open Office Writer/Calc (Microsoft Word/Excel) already provide a scripting environment to their end users since years.

While i'm not convinced by the fact that applications fully written with script are easy to maintain, i fully agree with javakiddy when he writes this comment about john's prose:
"Scripting is very useful in desktop applications, but generally it should be employed for the benefit of the application or the end user, not as a convenience to the programmer. ;)"

Furthermore providing a way to define scripts to end users can help you to understand what enhancement the customer want.
I love the mozilla strategy on that :

1. let users create their own extension using script (javascript)
2. if a script is popular integrate it in the plateform by frozen it in C++.

So perhaps it should not be be a bad idea to see a language that ease to define a program in a script manner and then enable to froze some part by typing them.
Eiffel already has this kind of concept, named melted ice i think, and i will love to see Java goes in that direction.

Ok, that's enought for today, in the next post, i will try to show a small desktop application demonstrating how to use javax.script.Bindings to let end users interact with Java object.