Photoshop CS: scripting vs actions?

[hizaam]

experts:

What's the primary (functional) difference between actions and scripts?

[DannyRaphael]

Hello, hizaam:

Not to be confused with an expert of anything, here's my .02.

Programming languages such as JavaScript and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) are used to write scripts. These languages have built-in functions and capabilities such as calculations, if-then-else type constructs, Boolean operators, etc. as well as the ability to access data objects such filename, image dimensions, EXIF information, etc. that are not available to actions.

As of PS7, a scripting plug-in has to be downloaded from Adobe. I don't know about CS. All action functionality is built into Photoshop.

Since Java and VBA are programming languages, having programming experience is almost a must in order to craft scripts using them. Although actions have considerably less functionality, they are very powerful and can be recorded by those who have never dreamt about programming a computer.

A very good PS scripting resource is the Scripting forum at www.adobe.com.

~Danny~