Google Apps Scripts evening at the GDG Montreal

Jean-Philippe and I leave the office around 5:30 a.m., slightly late for a change, and hail a taxi so as not to be  fashionably late . Feverishly, we exchange a few sentences on our midday lunch, on AdWords Scripts – the theme of the evening to which we are going –, and on the utopian potential of writing a mega big centralized script which will facilitate the management of n' any of our accounts and will do the repetitive tasks for us. 

We really hope to learn a lot tonight and are already idealizing a fully interconnected system between Apps Scripts and AdWords scripts. Arrived at destination, I curse against these trips in taxis which cost a fortune and, focusing again on the evening to come, we push the doors of the Montreal branch of the Googlian empire.

Evenings at Google Montreal are always pleasant: small frugal meal, festive drinks counter and a good sample of local brains. A real joy! I still remember the last conference I attended which was about entering the quantum era . I remained entangled (positively of course). 

Thus, we cross the threshold under a mountain of applause, put on our coats and grab a slice of pizza with caviar accompanied by a glass of champagne, before sitting down in the room under the admiring gaze of the assistance. Jean-Philippe does his best to make me understand that no one cheered us on, that it was simple all-dressed pizza and a good classic beer, but I like my version of the events better. More seriously, the evening begins with an online conference with Arun Nagarajan    connected on Hangout from New York which discusses Apps scripts. I found myself observing the other participants, and that's when I said to myself: “To the amount of developers present. Apps scripts really aren't a mainstream solution; you still need to know how to program a minimum to create your first script”.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgSVP9Pd-B4<[/youtube]

Nagarajan begins his presentation. The list of services that can be used impresses us: almost all Google services are accessible with a simple request. In four lines of code, Nagarajan transfers the messages from his mailbox to a document and then has them translated by Google. The result is hardly perfect (are you familiar with computerized translations? They sometimes produce delicious surprises!), but we are still impressed by the speed and simplicity of the operation. It is thus possible to open your Gmail account, check your calendar, to use the geolocation of your mobile to postpone your appointments on a Google Maps route by checking the weather conditions and to send you an SMS when it is time to leave to be sure not to be late for your appointment . There is still potential! I invite you to discover the list of available services on the site .

The second speaker, Dominic Dodge from BJ Media, talks to us about the integration of Apps scripts in companies. The presentation is mainly focused on system administrators and business developers. Jean-Philippe and I take the opportunity to sketch and idealize what we could do with Apps scripts.  

The return trip allowed me to sort through my notes and issue my conclusion:

Apps scripts are the key to a more open Web. Unfortunately, although they may be accessible to the general public, a good majority of the population does not master Javascript and the power of this system is therefore still exclusively reserved for developers and geeks of this world. It's not tomorrow that my office neighbor will be able to use Apps Scripts to revolutionize his working methods. He still has to wait to find a developer to create the tool for him.

Same problem with AdWords Scripts; typical AdWords specialists have no programming background and developers will usually be hired to work directly on an API. The target audience thus remains too limited in both cases.

Does Google one day plan to develop an interconnection between Apps Scripts and AdWords that would bypass the need for the API for the medium business? Only if the pool of AdWords specialists capable of using AdWords scripts grows rapidly. I will therefore wait another year before deciding on the viability of this idea.

Here are some links that I found interesting/fun while researching Apps Scripts:

http://googleappsdeveloper.blogspot.ca/2013/01/apps-script-rewind.html

http://googleappsdeveloper.blogspot.ca/2012/12/managing-projects-with-gantt-charts.html

Pascal-Philippe Bergeron