Scripting environment setup

Question

When I start a session programming on my macbook pro, I have a bunch of apps I'd like open and ready:

• DevNull smtp java server (run from terminal with java -jar DevNull.jar)
• Terminal shell in the tomcat/bin directory with startup.sh;tail -f ../logs/catalina.out running after rm -rf work and test webapp directories
• IntelliJ running
• after tomcat loads (fine with just having a timer), Firefox with my webapp loaded
• after tomcat loads, Chrome with my webapp loaded
• ForkLift
• TextMate
• Couple of Finder windows open in particular directories

Those are pretty core... then it depends on what exactly I'm working on as far as other apps I need open.

So how do I write a script I can double click on and have all the above ready for me, saving me a couple minutes each day and being a little less annoying getting started? Is there a nice app that can easily do the above for me? Do I need to write a bash or python script for this? Or learn applescript?

Answer 1

I'd use a bash script for this as everything that you list can be opened in bash. Use the open command pointing to the application to run the application or a folder location to open a particular folder with finder.

Answer 2

I use Concentrate to load up apps relevant to whatever I'm doing right now - you can run terminal commands, Applescripts, load programs, etc. I hit 'concentrate', make some tea, and then return to everything running. I know I could do this with Automator, but I'm too lazy to learn how.