by Kevin Sanchez

Created on: July 27, 2010

Back in the day, I was searching for a programming language that was both easy to learn and powerful. I came across lots of programming languages but they were all too complicated, and at that time I was too lazy to really concentrate on the matter. I kept on searching, until I found AutoHotKey.

AutoHotKey is described as a free, open source macro-creation and automation software utility that comes with a recorder recording what you do, and you can then save your actions in a script and run the script to make it perform repetitive tasks automatically, but from my experience, AutoHotkey is way more than a mouse recorder. It is a real programming language, and a very easy to learn one at that. It doesn't just repeat repetitive tasks, you can actually write programs with it. I've seen people writing a Tetris game in AutoHotkey and so on.

I guess the recorder that comes with it is made for users who do not want to spend their time learning some or all of the commands that come with AutoHotKey, but the more adventurous computer user will definitely fire up Notepad and start typing code.

Up until now, I wrote a few programs I'm satisfied with: an alarm clock, a utility that checks on WunderGround.com if there is a thunderstorm coming my way (checking every minute, and it makes the built-in speaker bleep if there will be a storm in the next couple of hours), a program that can show a location on Google Maps by just selecting the name of the city and pressing a button, a program that generates scrambles for scrambling a Rubik's Cube, a Guess The Number game, a program that checks codes on euro bills and verifies the authenticity of the bill and the list goes on and on. The possibilities are endless, and as you can see; AutoHotKey is not your ordinary mouse recorder.

I'll give you a quick glance at what AutoHotKey has to offer you.

= A free and user-friendly programming environment =

It is and will always remain free; you can even grab the source code and adjust it if you're tech-savvy enough.

= A great manual =

AutoHotKey comes with a great manual containing every possible command you can use. Every command is fully described in the manual: what does it do and how do you use it? Every article even contains some sample code to get you started. If that isn't clear enough yet, you can visit the...

= Very helpful community =

That's right. The folks at the community board of AutoHotKey are always helpful. Many times have I asked questions over there, and many times have I gotten

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