On Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:22:04 +0000, samwyse wrote: >> The term "script" has the strong connotation of a limited-purpose >> program designed to solve a problem expressed almost entirely as a >> simple series of steps. Languages that are often used to write such >> scripts are usually referred to as "scripting languages", which becomes >> a denigration because such a language need not have support for much >> else. > > I strongly disagree with your interpretation. Scritping languages > provide high-level facilites for process control. Historically, they > were purely interpretive but now they tend to compile to some sort of > byte code. Examples include the various shells, Rexx, and various > languages whose names start with "P".
Do you have a source for your claim that the shells (e.g. Linux/Unix shells bash, ksh, zsh, etc. or Windows shells cmd.exe, command.com) are compiled to byte code? I don't believe this is the case, I understand that they are typically "immediate interpreted" languages, that is, each line in interpreted from source code immediately before being executed, as often as it takes. Note to purists: yes, I know that being interpreted or compiled is a property of the implementation, not the language. But when all the implementations of a language (where "all" might mean "the only one"), I think it is reasonable to blur the lines. > Languages which only express a > "series of steps" are generally called batch languages. Maybe in the Windows/DOS world, but not typically in the Linux/Unix world, where they are called scripting languages. > I've never > heard anyone refer to a .BAT file as a script. Linux/Unix/Mac admins may be excused for saying that they've never come across a .BAT file at all. $ locate .bat | wc -l 14 Oh well, what do you know! I've got fourteen of the beggars. Hmmm... two are in the Python standard lib, two are in wxPython, six seem to be in the game Abuse, a couple of false positives, and a few odd files. $ locate .sh | wc -l 606 -- Steven -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
