“GIMP… is… one of the most powerful graphic applications
available. There’s hardly any task that cannot be done with the aid
of the GIMP. One of its main features is modularity: programmers
can extend the program with C programs called “plug-ins”. Just
open your right-mouse-button popup-menu, point to “Filters” and
its diverse submenus, and you’ll see how important the plug-in
feature is for GIMP: all Filters seen here are implemented via
plug-ins.
“What about the next item in the popup menu, “Script-Fu”? Tons
of effects can be discovered here. The difference between
Script-Fus and true filters is that Script-Fu-effects are generated
by the aid of so called “Scheme-Scripts”, small programs written
in a strange-looking language called “Scheme”, which is strongly
connected with Lisp–some of you have certainly heard this name in
connection with artificial-intelligence programs.”
“Lisp and Scheme are powerful, flexible and elegant languages,
but they are certainly not easy to learn…”
“To make writing scripts easier, Marc Lehmann set out… to
make it possible to write GIMP scripts using… Perl… the
language is much easier to learn than Script-Fu… Too, and this is
the main advantage in my opinion, most cgi-scripts and web-based
programs are written in Perl, so many people already know the
language.”