Scripting language

language which instructs a computer on how to perform a particular procedure, language which tells a computer how to connect to another computer

Scripting redirects here. For other uses, see script. Scripting languages (commonly called script languages) are computer programming languages that are typically interpreted and can be typed directly from a keyboard. Thus, scripts are often distinguished from programs, because programs are converted permanently into binary executable files (i.e. machine code) before they are run (There are some interpreters which convert the script into some suitable binary form, for efficiency reasons, but this is transparent to the user). Scripts remain in their original form and are interpreted command-by-command each time they are run. Scripts were created to shorten the traditional edit-compile-link-run process. The name 'script' is derived from the written script of the performing arts, in which dialogue is set down to be interpreted by actors and actresses--the programs. Early script languages were often called batch languages or job control languages. Scripting languages can also be compiled, but because interpreters are simpler to write than compilers, they are interpreted more often than they are compiled.
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<language> (Or "glue language") A loose term for any language that is weakly typed or untyped and has little or no provision for complex data structures. A program in a scripting language (a "script") is often interpreted (but see Ousterhout's dichotomy).
Scripts typically interact either with other programs (often as glue) or with a set of functions provided by the interpreter, as with the file system functions provided in a UNIX shell and with Tcl's GUI functions. Prototypical scripting languages are AppleScript, C Shell, MSDOS batch files, and Tcl.
(2001-03-06)