A script is mostly human-readable text that is A) intended to be consumed by an interpreter, B) short/simple enough for one person to create/maintain it without

A script is mostly human-readable text that is A) intended to be consumed by an interpreter, B) short/simple enough for one person to create/maintain it without having to consider it a second job, and C) where the interpreter facilities B. I wouldn't use the term "script" to describe binaries of any type. A module or plugin is a bit of binary code that can be inserted into a larger body of code, either during startup or while running. Program is the ambiguous term, sort of like application and operating system. I would say anything executed--or possible to be executed--within a process's binary image is a program. So a program would consist of an executable, plus any modules/plugins, but not non-executed/interpreted data. A script requires a program (the interpreter) to run - after all you launch the interpreter (explicitly or implicity) and not the script when you're "running" a script. We have the term "bytecode" to describe non-human-readable data that is intended to be consumed by an interpreter. Human-readable text that is A above, but not B or C ... I tend to use "program" for that - I don't know a better thing to call it.