Each portable script runs in the same JVM as the TM engine.  At other times, it just rides about within the topic holding it, waiting to be found via queries or navigation, merged, exchanged in XTM, or edited like any other string under normal TM tools and methods. Here are some specific use cases:

For all users: MORE ROBUST TOPIC MAPS

• Scripts let characteristics of topics be computed from formulae, not just recalled. This enables TMs that work like spreadsheets, crunching numbers or pulling in text from data bases, web pages or local files.
• They can also assume topic characteristics, guided by prototypes of classes and associations, plus rules based on data already known.
• Better UIs also seem possible with scripts, as computed-topic control features can be adjusted to match a user's personal display preferences.

For editors: HELP MAKING CHANGES

• Scripts can validate changes as they are made, to cut edit errors and speed up work.   They can use constraints emerging from OWL or TMCL, or craft virtually any TM-specific checks desired.
• Editors can also use WORDS' command set - a superset of its embedded scripting language - under batch text files or the MODELER dialog shell to make recurring editing tasks as easy and fast as possible.
• MODELER wizards can also bulk-populate characteristics, guided by prototypes and external resources, including (in release 2.0), parsed English paragraphs read from files or web pages.

For authors: POWERFUL, SHARED ONTOLOGIES

• The MODELER shell makes ontology building interactive.  Describe a new class; the shell prompts for required but missing details, and offers help.
• TM designers can save time by merging in ontology elements from on-line pattern libraries. They aid interoperability, but even better, they often hold pre-scripted rules for defaults, constraints, and computed values.
• Properties and scripts can also be inherited from more general topics (or along other ontology paths as needed).  Wise use of this feature at design time can save much effort originally and ease changes later.

For IT coders: EASY USE OF TOPIC MAPS IN J2EE

• Scripted TMs could aid several recurring IT tasks - project plans and specs, data dictionaries, etc.  With a dialog shell and custom tags for JSPs, open source TM products of such types could become popular.
• To help TMs connect to other J2EE tools, WORDS offers event triggers and listeners, easily customized under scripted Topics.
• Scripted web apps using XTM files for storage could make effective enterprise agents, as they can readily swap such files over HTTP then merge them. This pattern could facilitate many B2B or EAI tasks.

Overall, WORDS scripts in TMs offer a simple way to solve problems that might otherwise take a custom Java application - plus someone to write and install it. By easing this operational barrier, scripts can make TMs easier to visualize, develop, manage, test, deploy, and sell (both conceptually and literally) to new users.