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> Using the term "scripting language" to describe things like Python and Ruby fell out of favour quite a few years ago. Which is unfortunate, because now we da

by dded 13y ago

> Using the term "scripting language" to describe things like Python and Ruby fell out of favour quite a few years ago. Which is unfortunate, because now we dance through phrases like "things like Python and Ruby". There is a hard-to-precisely-define category here, and it's useful to have a name for it--even if the name is flawed. And, in my opinion, it's usually better to hang on to an old name as it becomes less and less literally true than to continually fish about for a new name. ("Dynamic language" is popular now, but what happens when someone popularizes such a language with static typing?) As an analogy, consider "touchdown" in American football. You haven't had to touch the ball down to score in my lifetime, or even in my parents lifetimes, but we still call it a "touchdown" and not a "planebreaker".

frou_dh 13y ago
I just think of a script program as one where textual source code is involved at runtime. If I can throw a thing over the wall to you that's runnable and doesn't contain textual source code then that's a compiled program.
- krallja 13y ago
  To clarify: Python is not a scripting language because you can throw a .pyc over the wall to me, but Ruby is a scripting language because it has no intermediate bytecode representation?
  - frou_dh 13y ago
    I didn't mention the word language. That's folly as one of the top comments says.
mattfenwick 13y ago
The question I always have when someone says "scripting language" is "to what aspect of the language are you referring?" Unfortunately, since AFAICT the term never seems to have been precisely defined (unlike "touchdown"), different people use it differently and loosely. I never know what exactly the speaker is referring to: - the language definition, or some feature of it such as the type system? - one or more (popular) language implementations? - the intended use (e.g. short throwaway programs, desktop apps, kernel code) and target audience (e.g. experienced programmers, casual programmers, non-programmers)? - the actual use and target audience? - some opinion of the speaker about the language/implementation/etc. in question? (Of course, this is just in my experience. YMMV) ---- tl,dr; in the body of my discussions, "scripting language" is a free variable and I can't find its definition! I wish people would pass it as a parameter! discuss_scripting_language(listener="matt", opinion="they suck/rock!!!1one", definition="...")

by dded 13y ago

frou_dh 13y ago

I just think of a script program as one where textual source code is involved at runtime. If I can throw a thing over the wall to you that's runnable and doesn't contain textual source code then that's a compiled program.

krallja 13y ago
To clarify: Python is not a scripting language because you can throw a .pyc over the wall to me, but Ruby is a scripting language because it has no intermediate bytecode representation?
- frou_dh 13y ago
  I didn't mention the word language. That's folly as one of the top comments says.

mattfenwick 13y ago

The question I always have when someone says "scripting language" is "to what aspect of the language are you referring?" Unfortunately, since AFAICT the term never seems to have been precisely defined (unlike "touchdown"), different people use it differently and loosely. I never know what exactly the speaker is referring to: - the language definition, or some feature of it such as the type system? - one or more (popular) language implementations? - the intended use (e.g. short throwaway programs, desktop apps, kernel code) and target audience (e.g. experienced programmers, casual programmers, non-programmers)? - the actual use and target audience? - some opinion of the speaker about the language/implementation/etc. in question? (Of course, this is just in my experience. YMMV) ---- tl,dr; in the body of my discussions, "scripting language" is a free variable and I can't find its definition! I wish people would pass it as a parameter! discuss_scripting_language(listener="matt", opinion="they suck/rock!!!1one", definition="...")