On Mon, 2005-05-23 at 16:05 -0400, Jeff Kinz wrote: > On Mon, May 23, 2005 at 12:42:05PM -0700, Ian Puleston wrote: > > > bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nathaniel Hall > > > My personal thought is that programs are compiled prior to the user > > > executing it. A script is compiled at the time it > > > is run. Is that a good way to differentiate them? > > > > Not really since Basic is a programming language that's usually interpreted > > rather than compiled. I'm sure most of us know what is scripting and what is > > programming, the problem is putting that down in words. My attempt would be: > > > > Programming is writing a program of statements that tell something what to > > do. Computer programming is writing a program of statements that tells the > > computer directly (or through an interpreter) what to do. > > > > Scripting is a type of programming that involves writing a script of > > commands that tell some other program, such as a shell or editor, what to > > do. > > Hi Ian, I like this approach. um, but... > > When you write a C program, isn't the source code a "script of commands" > telling another program (the compiler), what to do? yes > > I think the essence and intent of what you are saying is exactly what I > was thinking, but is there a loophole there ? > Not really. A compiled program also tells another program what to do. For example a compiled binary interacts with the hardware by making system calls that are handled by the kernel or the video driver or ..... A program that makes direct hardware calls is severely frowned upon these days. Thus, except for the kernel and specialized hardware drivers, all programs, whether they be binary executables (compiled) or scripts (interpreted) actually interact in defined ways with other programs (the shell, the kernel, the compiler, the interpreter, etc). > > > > > I'd say that's pretty simple and clear cut. > > Ian > > -- > Jeff Kinz, Emergent Research, Hudson, MA. >
