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> 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
by 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 agoJust 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 agoCareful 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.