4 ms·

I have a strong issue with the whole taxonomy. How do we decide what is a scripting language and what is not? What are other languages, enterprise languages?

I have a strong issue with the whole taxonomy. How do we decide what is a scripting language and what is not? What are other languages, enterprise languages? The same goes for "systems languages" and to all those making a flag of these definitions. They are meaningless. In keeping with the UNIX philosophy, everything under /bin is a system software, no matter what language it is written in.

fermigier 8y ago
"How do we decide what is a scripting language and what is not?" -> John K Ousterhout decided in 1997 (because, IFAIK, he invented the term). It was quite brilliant at the time, IMHO. Now, 20 years, later, I consider his dichotomy outdated on several levels. I did a talk about this 7 years ago ( https://fr.slideshare.net/sfermigier/four-python-pains https://fr.slideshare.net/sfermigier/four-python-pains ).
rcfox 8y ago
> How do we decide what is a scripting language and what is not? I'd say a "scripting language" is one that was designed to run "scripts". Where a "script" is a set of instructions executed against an API provided by a containing program, like your CAD software, to automate things. Javascript was created to automate the browser DOM API.
- FLUX-YOU 8y ago
  Just about everything uses an API to the CPU/OS/GPU. We're really just drawing lines in the sand and placing goalposts. Sometimes it shifts back and forth. Honestly the distinction is pretty useless as far as reading/writing production code goes. What really changes in your development mindset between compiled vs. scripting languages? You still want to write working, maintainable, and performing code in both. It's a useful distinction when teaching programming to show the different ways things boil down to primitive instructions.
  - dullgiulio 8y ago
    Careful that you are conflating scripting and interpreted. Mostly we think of scripting as "interpreted and dynamically typed", but it's just an habit with no base. Notice that interpreted and dynamically typed are two independent properties.
gnode 8y ago
I would define a script as a program for automating tasks otherwise performed by a person. A scripting language such as Bash is primarily used to automate tasks which a user would otherwise manually perform on a shell. I would say that JavaScript is not a scripting language, nor did it begin as a scripting language, as its main use case has always been in providing interactivity to users, not in automating the tasks conventionally performed by users.

fermigier 8y ago

"How do we decide what is a scripting language and what is not?" -> John K Ousterhout decided in 1997 (because, IFAIK, he invented the term). It was quite brilliant at the time, IMHO. Now, 20 years, later, I consider his dichotomy outdated on several levels. I did a talk about this 7 years ago ( https://fr.slideshare.net/sfermigier/four-python-pains https://fr.slideshare.net/sfermigier/four-python-pains ).

rcfox 8y ago

> How do we decide what is a scripting language and what is not? I'd say a "scripting language" is one that was designed to run "scripts". Where a "script" is a set of instructions executed against an API provided by a containing program, like your CAD software, to automate things. Javascript was created to automate the browser DOM API.

FLUX-YOU 8y ago
Just about everything uses an API to the CPU/OS/GPU. We're really just drawing lines in the sand and placing goalposts. Sometimes it shifts back and forth. Honestly the distinction is pretty useless as far as reading/writing production code goes. What really changes in your development mindset between compiled vs. scripting languages? You still want to write working, maintainable, and performing code in both. It's a useful distinction when teaching programming to show the different ways things boil down to primitive instructions.
- dullgiulio 8y ago
  Careful that you are conflating scripting and interpreted. Mostly we think of scripting as "interpreted and dynamically typed", but it's just an habit with no base. Notice that interpreted and dynamically typed are two independent properties.

gnode 8y ago

I would define a script as a program for automating tasks otherwise performed by a person. A scripting language such as Bash is primarily used to automate tasks which a user would otherwise manually perform on a shell. I would say that JavaScript is not a scripting language, nor did it begin as a scripting language, as its main use case has always been in providing interactivity to users, not in automating the tasks conventionally performed by users.