What is a glue language?

[John Hunter]

>>>>> "Jens" == Jens Kubieziel <spam07 at kuwest.de> writes:

    Jens> Hi all, the word 'glue language' is mentioned in the FAQ. I
    Jens> have no clue :-) what this could mean. Could someone explain
    Jens> this (also a german translation is appreciated)?

A glue language is used to hold many parts together.  People who have
worked with computers for a while usually have lots of little pieces
of software running on multiple platforms to do their work for them,
and it is hard to integrate all these pieces together. python is good
at interoperating with all these pieces -- it can run command line
utilities, talk to every major database, automate web interaction,
integrate compiled libraries from c/c++/fortran and so on.

But because python is a full, object oriented programming language
with excellent built in libraries, it can do much more.  As Paul Rubin
noted:

  IMO a bunch of the frustration I sometimes feel with Python comes
  from its originally being intended as a "glue" language. It's too
  good for that, and finds itself used as a work horse or even a race
  horse.  Neither type of horse belongs in the glue factory ;-).

As for the translation, Es tut mir leit, mein Deutcsh ist nicht so
gut.  Ein 'glue' sprache versucht alle die teile zusammen halten.....


Tcshuss,
John Hunter