On 2/9/2013 6:26 PM, Tim Roberts wrote:
Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
IMO, a "scripting language" is used to automate tasks that would
otherwise be done by a human sitting at a keyboard typing commands.
[Perhaps that definition should be extended to include tasks that
would otherwise by done by a human sitting and clicking on a GUI.]
I think that definition is a little too neat and clean.
Most people would call bash a "scripting language", but it is also clearly
a programming language. It has syntax, variables and expressions. I
suspect it is Turing-complete, although I haven't seen a proof of that.
I would assert that scripting languages are a proper subset of programming
languages, not a separate category.
To me, 'scripting languages' include some non-Turing-complete languages
and I would not call those 'programming languages'.
--
Terry Jan Reedy
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