Scripting language
Encyclopedia
A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language
that allows control of one or more applications
. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the end-user. Scripts are often interpreted
from source code or bytecode
, whereas the application is typically first compiled
to native machine code.
Early script languages were often called batch language
s or job control languages. Such early scripting languages were created to shorten the traditional edit
-compile
-link-run process.
s (in the 1950s) were non-interactive, instead using batch processing
. IBM's Job Control Language
(JCL) is the archetype of language used to control batch processing.
The first interactive shell
s were developed in the 1960s to enable remote operation of the first time-sharing
systems, and these used shell scripts, which controlled running computer programs within a computer program, the shell.
Languages such as Tcl
and Lua were specifically designed as general purpose scripting languages that could be embedded in any application. Other languages such as Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA) provided strong integration with the automation facilities of an underlying system. Embedding of such general purpose scripting languages instead of developing a new language for each application also had obvious benefits, relieving the application developer of the need to code a language translator from scratch and allowing the user to apply skills learned elsewhere.
Some software incorporates several different scripting languages. Modern web browser
s typically provide a language for writing extensions to the browser itself, and several standard embedded languages for controlling the browser, including JavaScript
(a dialect of ECMAScript
) or XUL
.
, which was used for exactly this purpose.) Many of these languages' interpreters double as command-line interpreters such as the Unix shell
or the MS-DOS
offer the use of English-like commands to build scripts. This combined with Mac OS X
's Cocoa
frameworks allows user to build entire applications using AppleScript
& Cocoa
objects.
s a specialized kind of scripting language emerged for controlling a computer. These languages interact with the same graphic windows, menus, buttons, and so on that a system generates. They do this by simulating the actions of a human user. These languages are typically used to automate user actions or configure a standard state. Such languages are also called "macros" when control is through simulated key presses or mouse clicks.
These languages could in principle be used to control any application running on a GUI-based computer; but, in practice, the support for such languages typically depends on the application and operating system
. There are a few exceptions to this limitation. Some GUI scripting languages are based on recognizing graphical objects from their display screen pixel
s. These GUI scripting languages do not depend on support from the operating system or application.
s and the game environment. Languages of this sort are designed for a single application; and, while they may superficially resemble a specific general-purpose language (e.g. QuakeC
, modeled after C), they have custom features that distinguish them. Emacs Lisp
, while a fully formed and capable dialect of Lisp, contains many special features that make it most useful for extending the editing functions of Emacs. An application-specific scripting language can be viewed as a domain-specific programming language
specialized to a single application.
; VBScript
by Microsoft
, which only works in Internet Explorer
; XUL
by the Mozilla
project, which only works in Firefox; and XSLT
, a presentation language that transforms XML content into a new form. Techniques involving the combination of XML and JavaScript scripting to improve the user's impression of responsiveness have become significant enough to acquire a name: AJAX
. Client-side scripts are sent by the server "as-is" and are run by the client's computer. An example of client side scripting is a JavaScript alert box popping up when the user clicks a button on the web page.
tools AWK, sed
, and grep
automate tasks that involve text-based configuration and log files. Of high importance here is the regular expression
, a language developed for the formal description of the lexical structure of text, and used by all of these tools.
Perl
was originally designed to overcome limitations of these tools and has grown to be one of the most widespread general purpose languages.
, began as scripting languages but were developed into programming languages suitable for broader purposes. Other similar languages – frequently interpreted, memory-managed, or 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.
JavaScript began as and primarily still is a language for scripting inside web browser
s; however, the standardization of the language as ECMAScript
has made it popular as a general purpose embeddable language. In particular, the Mozilla
implementation SpiderMonkey is embedded in several environments such as the Yahoo! Widget Engine
. Other applications embedding ECMAScript implementations include the Adobe
products Adobe Flash
(ActionScript
) and Adobe Acrobat
(for scripting PDF files).
Tcl
was created as an extension language but has come to be used more frequently as a general purpose language in roles similar to Python
, Perl
, and Ruby
.
Other complex and task-oriented applications may incorporate and expose an embedded programming language to allow their users more control and give them more functionality than can be available through a user interface, no matter how sophisticated. For example, Autodesk Maya 3D authoring tools embed the MEL scripting language, or Blender
which has Python
to fill this role.
Some other types of applications that need faster feature addition or tweak-and-run cycles (e.g. game engines
) also use an embedded language. During the development, this allows them to prototype features faster and tweak more freely, without the need for the user to have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the application or to rebuild it after each tweak (which can take a significant amount of time.) The scripting languages used for this purpose range from the more common and more famous Lua and Python
to lesser-known ones such as AngelScript and Squirrel.
. The second most widespread is PHP
. Perl
is the third most widespread scripting language, but in North America
it enjoys significantly more popularity.
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
that allows control of one or more applications
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the end-user. Scripts are often interpreted
Interpreter (computing)
In computer science, an interpreter normally means a computer program that executes, i.e. performs, instructions written in a programming language...
from source code or bytecode
Bytecode
Bytecode, also known as p-code , is a term which has been used to denote various forms of instruction sets designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter as well as being suitable for further compilation into machine code...
, whereas the application is typically first compiled
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
to native machine code.
Early script languages were often called batch language
Batch file
In DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, batch file is the name given to a type of script file, a text file containing a series of commands to be executed by the command interpreter....
s or job control languages. Such early scripting languages were created to shorten the traditional edit
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
-compile
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
-link-run process.
History
Early mainframe computerMainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
s (in the 1950s) were non-interactive, instead using batch processing
Batch processing
Batch processing is execution of a series of programs on a computer without manual intervention.Batch jobs are set up so they can be run to completion without manual intervention, so all input data is preselected through scripts or command-line parameters...
. IBM's Job Control Language
Job Control Language
Job Control Language is a scripting language used on IBM mainframe operating systems to instruct the system on how to run a batch job or start a subsystem....
(JCL) is the archetype of language used to control batch processing.
The first interactive shell
Shell (computing)
A shell is a piece of software that provides an interface for users of an operating system which provides access to the services of a kernel. However, the term is also applied very loosely to applications and may include any software that is "built around" a particular component, such as web...
s were developed in the 1960s to enable remote operation of the first time-sharing
Time-sharing
Time-sharing is the sharing of a computing resource among many users by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking. Its introduction in the 1960s, and emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s, represents a major technological shift in the history of computing.By allowing a large...
systems, and these used shell scripts, which controlled running computer programs within a computer program, the shell.
Languages such as Tcl
Tcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
and Lua were specifically designed as general purpose scripting languages that could be embedded in any application. Other languages such as Visual Basic for Applications
Visual Basic for Applications
Visual Basic for Applications is an implementation of Microsoft's event-driven programming language Visual Basic 6 and its associated integrated development environment , which are built into most Microsoft Office applications...
(VBA) provided strong integration with the automation facilities of an underlying system. Embedding of such general purpose scripting languages instead of developing a new language for each application also had obvious benefits, relieving the application developer of the need to code a language translator from scratch and allowing the user to apply skills learned elsewhere.
Some software incorporates several different scripting languages. Modern web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s typically provide a language for writing extensions to the browser itself, and several standard embedded languages for controlling the browser, including JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
(a dialect of ECMAScript
ECMAScript
ECMAScript is the scripting language standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 specification and ISO/IEC 16262. The language is widely used for client-side scripting on the web, in the form of several well-known dialects such as JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript.- History :JavaScript...
) or XUL
XUL
In computer programming, XUL , the XML User Interface Language, is an XML user interface markup language developed by the Mozilla project. XUL operates in Mozilla cross-platform applications such as Firefox...
.
Job control languages and shells
A major class of scripting languages has grown out of the automation of job control, which relates to starting and controlling the behavior of system programs. (In this sense, one might think of shells as being descendants of IBM's JCL, or Job Control LanguageJob Control Language
Job Control Language is a scripting language used on IBM mainframe operating systems to instruct the system on how to run a batch job or start a subsystem....
, which was used for exactly this purpose.) Many of these languages' interpreters double as command-line interpreters such as the Unix shell
Unix shell
A Unix shell is a command-line interpreter or shell that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems...
or the MS-DOS
COMMAND.COMCOMMAND.COMCOMMAND.COM is the filename of the default operating system shell for DOS operating systems and the default command line interpreter on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me...
. Others, such as AppleScriptAppleScript
AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. and built into Macintosh operating systems since System 7. The term "AppleScript" may refer to the scripting system itself, or to particular scripts that are written in the AppleScript language....
offer the use of English-like commands to build scripts. This combined with Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
's Cocoa
Cocoa (API)
Cocoa is Apple's native object-oriented application programming interface for the Mac OS X operating system and—along with the Cocoa Touch extension for gesture recognition and animation—for applications for the iOS operating system, used on Apple devices such as the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and...
frameworks allows user to build entire applications using AppleScript
AppleScript
AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. and built into Macintosh operating systems since System 7. The term "AppleScript" may refer to the scripting system itself, or to particular scripts that are written in the AppleScript language....
& Cocoa
Cocoa (API)
Cocoa is Apple's native object-oriented application programming interface for the Mac OS X operating system and—along with the Cocoa Touch extension for gesture recognition and animation—for applications for the iOS operating system, used on Apple devices such as the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and...
objects.
GUI scripting
With the advent of graphical user interfaceGraphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
s a specialized kind of scripting language emerged for controlling a computer. These languages interact with the same graphic windows, menus, buttons, and so on that a system generates. They do this by simulating the actions of a human user. These languages are typically used to automate user actions or configure a standard state. Such languages are also called "macros" when control is through simulated key presses or mouse clicks.
These languages could in principle be used to control any application running on a GUI-based computer; but, in practice, the support for such languages typically depends on the application and operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. There are a few exceptions to this limitation. Some GUI scripting languages are based on recognizing graphical objects from their display screen pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
s. These GUI scripting languages do not depend on support from the operating system or application.
Application-specific languages
Many large application programs include an idiomatic scripting language tailored to the needs of the application user. Likewise, many computer game systems use a custom scripting language to express the programmed actions of non-player characterNon-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s and the game environment. Languages of this sort are designed for a single application; and, while they may superficially resemble a specific general-purpose language (e.g. QuakeC
QuakeC
QuakeC is an interpreted language developed in 1996 by John Carmack of id Software to program parts of the computer game Quake. Using QuakeC, a programmer is able to customize Quake to great extents by adding weapons, changing game logic and physics, and programming complex scenarios...
, modeled after C), they have custom features that distinguish them. Emacs Lisp
Emacs Lisp
Emacs Lisp is a dialect of the Lisp programming language used by the GNU Emacs and XEmacs text editors . It is used for implementing most of the editing functionality built into Emacs, the remainder being written in C...
, while a fully formed and capable dialect of Lisp, contains many special features that make it most useful for extending the editing functions of Emacs. An application-specific scripting language can be viewed as a domain-specific programming language
Domain-specific programming language
In software development and domain engineering, a domain-specific language is a programming language or specification language dedicated to a particular problem domain, a particular problem representation technique, and/or a particular solution technique...
specialized to a single application.
Web browsers
Web browsers are applications for displaying web pages. Scripts can be run by web browsers to change the appearance or behaviour of a web page, for example, to change the content to be specific to the current user. A host of special-purpose languages have been developed to control the operation of web browsers. These include JavaScriptJavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
; VBScript
VBScript
VBScript is an Active Scripting language developed by Microsoft that is modeled on Visual Basic. It is designed as a “lightweight” language with a fast interpreter for use in a wide variety of Microsoft environments...
by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, which only works in Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
; XUL
XUL
In computer programming, XUL , the XML User Interface Language, is an XML user interface markup language developed by the Mozilla project. XUL operates in Mozilla cross-platform applications such as Firefox...
by the Mozilla
Mozilla
Mozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
project, which only works in Firefox; and XSLT
XSL Transformations
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
, a presentation language that transforms XML content into a new form. Techniques involving the combination of XML and JavaScript scripting to improve the user's impression of responsiveness have become significant enough to acquire a name: AJAX
Ajax (programming)
Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...
. Client-side scripts are sent by the server "as-is" and are run by the client's computer. An example of client side scripting is a JavaScript alert box popping up when the user clicks a button on the web page.
Text processing languages
The processing of text-based records is one of the oldest uses of scripting languages. Scripts written for the UnixUnix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
tools AWK, sed
Sed
sed is a Unix utility that parses text and implements a programming language which can apply transformations to such text. It reads input line by line , applying the operation which has been specified via the command line , and then outputs the line. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 as a Unix...
, and grep
Grep
grep is a command-line text-search utility originally written for Unix. The name comes from the ed command g/re/p...
automate tasks that involve text-based configuration and log files. Of high importance here is the regular expression
Regular expression
In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
, a language developed for the formal description of the lexical structure of text, and used by all of these tools.
Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
was originally designed to overcome limitations of these tools and has grown to be one of the most widespread general purpose languages.
General-purpose dynamic languages
Some languages, such as PerlPerl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
, began as scripting languages but were developed into programming languages suitable for broader purposes. Other similar languages – frequently interpreted, memory-managed, or 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.
Extension/embeddable languages
A number of languages have been designed for the purpose of replacing application-specific scripting languages by being embeddable in application programs. The application programmer (working in C or another systems language) includes "hooks" where the scripting language can control the application. These languages serve the same purpose as application-specific extension languages but with the advantage of allowing some transfer of skills from application to application.JavaScript began as and primarily still is a language for scripting inside web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
s; however, the standardization of the language as ECMAScript
ECMAScript
ECMAScript is the scripting language standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 specification and ISO/IEC 16262. The language is widely used for client-side scripting on the web, in the form of several well-known dialects such as JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript.- History :JavaScript...
has made it popular as a general purpose embeddable language. In particular, the Mozilla
Mozilla
Mozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
implementation SpiderMonkey is embedded in several environments such as the Yahoo! Widget Engine
Yahoo! Widget Engine
Yahoo! Widgets is a free application platform for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. The software was previously called Konfabulator, but after being acquired by computer services company Yahoo! it was rebranded. The name Konfabulator was subsequently reinstated as the name of the underlying rendering...
. Other applications embedding ECMAScript implementations include the Adobe
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
products Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
(ActionScript
ActionScript
ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. . It is a dialect of ECMAScript , and is used primarily for the development of websites and software targeting the Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the form of...
) and Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a family of application software developed by Adobe Systems to view, create, manipulate, print and manage files in Portable Document Format . All members of the family, except Adobe Reader , are commercial software, while the latter is available as freeware and can be downloaded...
(for scripting PDF files).
Tcl
Tcl
Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...
was created as an extension language but has come to be used more frequently as a general purpose language in roles similar to Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
, Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
, and Ruby
Ruby (programming language)
Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...
.
Other complex and task-oriented applications may incorporate and expose an embedded programming language to allow their users more control and give them more functionality than can be available through a user interface, no matter how sophisticated. For example, Autodesk Maya 3D authoring tools embed the MEL scripting language, or Blender
Blender (software)
Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...
which has Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
to fill this role.
Some other types of applications that need faster feature addition or tweak-and-run cycles (e.g. game engines
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
) also use an embedded language. During the development, this allows them to prototype features faster and tweak more freely, without the need for the user to have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the application or to rebuild it after each tweak (which can take a significant amount of time.) The scripting languages used for this purpose range from the more common and more famous Lua and Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
to lesser-known ones such as AngelScript and Squirrel.
Market analysis
According to a global survey performed by Evans Data in 2008 http://www.cio.com/article/446829/PHP_JavaScript_Ruby_Perl_Python_and_Tcl_Today_The_State_of_the_Scripting_Universe?contentId=446829&slug=&, the most widespread scripting language is JavaScriptJavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
. The second most widespread is PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
. Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
is the third most widespread scripting language, but in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
it enjoys significantly more popularity.
See also
- Architecture description languageArchitecture description languageDifferent communities use the term architecture description language. Some important communities are the system engineering community, the software engineering community and the enterprise modelling and engineering community...
- Build automationBuild AutomationBuild automation is the act of scripting or automating a wide variety of tasks that software developers do in their day-to-day activities including things like:* compiling computer source code into binary code* packaging binary code* running tests...
- Domain-specific language
- Glue codeGlue codeIn programming, glue code is code that does not contribute any functionality towards meeting the program's requirements, but instead serves solely to "glue together" different parts of code that would not otherwise be compatible...
- Interpreted languageInterpreted languageInterpreted language is a programming language in which programs are 'indirectly' executed by an interpreter program. This can be contrasted with a compiled language which is converted into machine code and then 'directly' executed by the host CPU...
- Interpreter directiveInterpreter directiveAn interpreter directive is a computer language construct that is used to control which interpreter parses and interprets the instructions in a computer program.- See also :* Shebang * Bourne-Again Shell* C Shell...
- List of programming languages
- Macro and preprocessorPreprocessorIn computer science, a preprocessor is a program that processes its input data to produce output that is used as input to another program. The output is said to be a preprocessed form of the input data, which is often used by some subsequent programs like compilers...
languages - Ousterhout's dichotomyOusterhout's dichotomyOusterhout's dichotomy is computer scientist John Ousterhout's claim that high-level programming languages tend to fall into two groups, each with distinct properties and uses: "system programming languages" and "scripting languages"...
- Programming in the large and programming in the small
- Shebang (Unix)Shebang (Unix)In computing, a shebang is the character sequence consisting of the characters number sign and exclamation point , when it occurs as the first two characters on the first line of a text file...
- Shell (computing)Shell (computing)A shell is a piece of software that provides an interface for users of an operating system which provides access to the services of a kernel. However, the term is also applied very loosely to applications and may include any software that is "built around" a particular component, such as web...
- System programmingSystem programmingSystem programming is the activity of programming system software. The primary distinguishing characteristic of systems programming when compared to application programming is that application programming aims to produce software which provides services to the user System programming (or systems...
- Web template languages
External links
- Patterns for Scripted Applications
- A study of the Script-Oriented Programming (SOP) suitability of selected languages — from The Scriptometer
- A Slightly Skeptical View on Scripting Languages by Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov
- Rob van der Woude's Scripting Pages — Administrative scripting related information (includes examples)
- Are Scripting Languages Any Good? A Validation of Perl, Python, Rexx, and Tcl against C, C++, and Java (PDF) — 2003 study
- Use of VBScript in QTP automation
- Scripting on the Java platform — JavaWorld
- "Programming is Hard - Let's Go Scripting" by Larry Wall - Perl.com transcript of his State of the Onion speech.