What's the diff between...

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JellyFish
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What's the diff between...

Post by JellyFish »

What's the diff between the term "Scripting language" and "Programming language"? Not just the term but the general difference.

Simple question, simple answer(EDIT: But descriptive), please.

Thanks
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Re: What's the diff between...

Post by Roja »

EasyGoing wrote:What's the diff between the term "Scripting language" and "Programming language"? Not just the term but the general difference.

Simple question, simple answer(EDIT: But descriptive), please.
Its not a simple question, and as a result, doesn't have a simple answer. However, here is the simplified version:

"Scripting language" is (often) an inaccurate derogatory term used to imply that a programming language is in some way inferior to another programming language, based on whether the code is compiled before use. (People using the term often are inaccurate about that issue as well).
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Re: What's the diff between...

Post by RobertGonzalez »

EasyGoing wrote:What's the diff between the term "Scripting language" and "Programming language"? Not just the term but the general difference.
I am totally going to agree with Roja, but will offer an opinion of sorts. Many people associate programming languages with programs (compiled code) that create apps that are executed. In this respect, C++ would be considered a programming language.

Still, other people associate 'Scripting Languages' with applications that are passed through compiled applications that 'run' the scripts. In this case, PHP would be considered a scripting language.

This truly is not a simple question, or one that can be answered with a simple answer. But I hope that I could at least offer some viewpoint as to a commonly accepted association of the terms you asked about.
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JellyFish
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Post by JellyFish »

Thanks Roja. :)

But just curious. Is that just your opinion or is it known fact? So that is I get my facts strait.
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Post by Roja »

EasyGoing wrote:Thanks Roja. :)

But just curious. Is that just your opinion or is it known fact? So that is I get my facts strait.
There is fact and opinion both in the answer.

You asked for the simplified answer, and that means I've simplified the much larger, much more detailed answer to fit your requirements.

If you'd like to know specifically which programming languages are usually called scripting languages, which of those are inaccurately called such, and why, then its going to be a much more detailed/complicated answer.
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JellyFish
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Post by JellyFish »

So basically, a scripting language, is a less credited or more shorter language? For example, instade of a whole library of scripts that all work together, a simple peace like coding? I hope your get what I'm saying.
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daedalus__
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Post by daedalus__ »

Here are what I think are examples of scripting languages:

NWN Script
MWScript

You can't really do much more than scripting with those.
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Post by Luke »

I believe the most common accepted definitions were posted by Everah. This does not, however, make them right OR somebody's opinion. It just makes them the most commonly accepted definitions.
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Post by Roja »

The Ninja Space Goat wrote:I believe the most common accepted definitions were posted by Everah. This does not, however, make them right OR somebody's opinion. It just makes them the most commonly accepted definitions.
Wikipedia has a different 'community opinion': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scripting_language

I especially appreciate their summary of general purpose dynamic languages being considered "Scripting" languages:
Wikipedia wrote:Some languages, such as Perl, began as scripting languages but developed into programming languages suitable for broader purposes. Other similar languages -- frequently interpreted, memory-managed, dynamic -- have been described as "scripting languages" for these similarities, even if they are more commonly used for applications programming. They are usually not called "scripting languages" by their own users.
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

Roja wrote:
Wikipedia wrote:They are usually not called "scripting languages" by their own users.
Which I suppose is true. I refer to PHP as a programming language. In fact my whole house describes what I do as programming. Though I think even the PHP website refers to it as a scripting language.
The PHP Home Page wrote:What is PHP?
PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML.
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Post by jayshields »

Jay's uber definition: If the language has "script" in the name, then it's a scripting language, if not, it's a programming language!

Eg. Javascript, ActionScript, etc.

On a serious note, in my own mind, I don't know. If someone asked me to name one programming language I would say Visual Basic, because it's compiled.
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hydroxide
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Post by hydroxide »

jayshields wrote:Jay's uber definition: If the language has "script" in the name, then it's a scripting language, if not, it's a programming language!

Eg. Javascript, ActionScript, etc.

On a serious note, in my own mind, I don't know. If someone asked me to name one programming language I would say Visual Basic, because it's compiled.
And you would find 21723 people waiting to argue with you that Visual Basic isn't a "real" programming language.
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Post by Benjamin »

IMO Anything that doesn't need to be manually compiled is a script. If you need to manually compile it into a binary it's a programming language. That is a pretty simple dividing line.
hydroxide wrote: And you would find 21723 people waiting to argue with you that Visual Basic isn't a "real" programming language.
I hope your not being sarcastic..
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Post by hydroxide »

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Post by Benjamin »

hydroxide wrote:
astions wrote: I hope your not being sarcastic..
There are many people who would rather not give VB the dignity of the name 'programming language'
And how does that concern me or the difference between a script and a program?
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