Python is the best and most popular general purpose scripting language; the universal scripting language

[Michael Geary]

John Roth wrote:
> The distinction isn't "scripting" versus "programming"
> language, it's "scripting" versus something that doesn't
> really have a name. Scripts are executed from the top
> down once. In other languages (such as Java and C++)
> there's a designated starting point (main()) that the
> compiler locates.
>
> Python is a scripting language because each module
> is executed from the top down as its loaded.

By that definition, these would be scripting languages:

Algol 60
Algol 68
APL
Basic (traditional)
BCPL
Focal
Forth
Fortran
Intel 8086 assembly in a "com" format executable
Lisp
Pascal
PostScript
Simula
Snobol
Turing (language)
Turing (machine)

I may have one or two of those wrong, but you get the idea... ;-)

Wikipedia has a pretty good article on scripting languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scripting_language

Even as informative as the article is, in the end it nearly gives up on the
idea of distinguishing between scripting and other languages: "However, the
boundary between scripting languages and regular programming languages tends
to be vague, and is blurring ever more with the emergence of new languages
and integrations in this fast-changing area."

-Mike