So, I think you're focusing too much on the specific example and not enough on the runtime distinction. The C runtime looks for "main()". If you trick it into l

So, I think you're focusing too much on the specific example and not enough on the runtime distinction. The C runtime looks for "main()". If you trick it into looking in different places for it, that's a trick. Ruby (and other scripting languages) goes through the source file sequentially, executing statements and definitions as it goes. There isn't a specific symbol for it to look for. (Well, there is, but that just complicates matters.) The point I'm trying to make is that the distinction between scripting language and programming language shouldn't rely on how it's used, but rather on how it's formatted. ...and by the way, I would consider x86 assembly a scripting language. You're just scripting out the processor's actions...