Choosing a Windows automation scripting language. AutoIt vs Autohotkey

windows scripting automation autohotkey autoit
PA. picture PA. · Nov 6, 2009 · Viewed 85.2k times · Source

I need to choose a Windows automation scripting language. Which one do you recommend; AutoIt, AutoHotkey, or an other?

I have read "An AutoIt / AutoHotkey comparison". Interesting history, but without recommendation. Searching Google leaves around 312k hits for AutoHotkey Windows vs 482k for AutoIt Windows. On Stack Overflow there are 15 questions tagged vs 18 .

I am interested in your opinion as programmers. Which one do you think is easier to use, more deployable and more powerful in terms of functionality? I have already used AutoHotkey for personal use, so my initial preference is for this.

Answer

Zenjin picture Zenjin · Mar 27, 2010
  • I think AutoHotkey's GUI implementation is easier to use like many of its commands.
  • AutoHotkey (no longer maintained) has 3 forks :
    • AutoHotkey v1.1.* (previously known as AutoHotkey_L) has COM, Unicode support, object-oriented -like syntax, arrays, and more.
    • AutoHotkeyCE works on Windows mobile PDA's and smartphones (unfinished, no longer maintained).
    • IronAHK, a .NET version of AutoHotkey (unfinished, no longer maintained).
  • AutoHotkey includes a DLL file that you can call from other programming languages (so does AutoIt).
  • AutoHotkey is open source, AutoIt is not.
  • You have to search the AutoHotkey site to put all tools together. AutoIt does better at packaging all in its initial download.

My vote is for AutoHotkey (AHK).

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