OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/20388/6_Scripting_Languages Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:54:10 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com Not scripting languages http://osnews.com/thread?333571 http://osnews.com/thread?333571 Only two of the languages featured in that article are scripting languages: Groovy and Lua. The rest are general purpose programming languages, even the bonus languages at the end.

Otherwise an interesting article. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (BrianH) Comments scripting languages with static type system? http://osnews.com/thread?333583 http://osnews.com/thread?333583 At least three of the languages mentioned (scala, F# and boo) have a static type system. If you call them scripting languages you might as well call java and c++ scripting languages... Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:34:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (tuttle) Comments RE: scripting languages with static type system? http://osnews.com/thread?333584 http://osnews.com/thread?333584 I've heard C test code referred to as "test scripts". Really, the difference between a scripting language and a programming language is nil. The distinction is purely in how you use the language, and even then I'm not sure there is a description. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (SomeGuy) Comments RE[2]: scripting languages with static type system? http://osnews.com/thread?333585 http://osnews.com/thread?333585 [QUOTE]Really, the difference between a scripting language and a programming language is nil.[/QUOTE]

Agree. The only thing which then can be labeled as a "real" programming language would be coding in binary, which is silly.

Definition of a scripting lang from wikipedia:

[QUOTE en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scripting_language ]
"Scripts" are often treated as distinct from "programs", which execute independently from any other application. At the same time they are distinct from the core code of the application, which is usually written in a different language, and by being accessible to the end user they enable the behavior of the application to be adapted to the user's needs.
[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't call Scala a scripting language. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bleedingedges) Comments RE: scripting languages with static type system? http://osnews.com/thread?333586 http://osnews.com/thread?333586 Note that Scala, Boo and F# have local type inference, so this blur a little bit the difference between 'scripting' language and those language.

Of course C++200x will have local type inference, but C++ won't ever be confused with a scripting language due to its "early optimisation" focus.. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (renox) Comments Groovy vs. Python http://osnews.com/thread?333587 http://osnews.com/thread?333587 I could be wrong, but I disagree with the quote in the article which postulates that Groovy could replace Python and Ruby in the next few years.

While Ruby definitely has it's gotchas, Python is a relatively clean and easy to use language. Groovy certainly has better syntax than Java, but it is still closely tied to Java and therefore has some gotchas which I think will always keep it from overtaking Python in popularity; at least with non-Java programmers.

For example, semicolons are optional in Groovy; but not always. There are times where leaving off a semicolon will cause your code to throw exceptions (like when a missing semicolon causes Groovy to think your class initializer is a closure instead).

I think the JVM is great and have always lamented that it has such a wordy and obtuse language tied so closely to it.

I think Groovy is more pleasurable to write in than Java, but I think Python is better than Groovy and will continue to be my preferred language.

Academically speaking, in my opinion anyway, Ruby is just a lot of fun, so I think it will be around for quite a while too.Edited 2008-10-14 08:11 UTC Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Clinton) Comments never really understood scripting syntax http://osnews.com/thread?333642 http://osnews.com/thread?333642 Maybe it's just me... probably is just me ;) , but why is it that scripting languages think it is easier to leave out structure like semicolons, parenthesis, braces...

To me, it just makes it more confusing and easier to make mistakes. I mean, it's been a while since I used VB, but remember at times having to NOT include parenthesis when calling a procedure.
like: MyProc arg1, arg2
when it C, it would look like: MyProc(arg1,arg2).

Then there's things like makefiles and their use of tabs... I don't know. To me, the value in scripting languages are their libraries. I don't find their syntax any better than c/java like languages.


Anyone else know why scripting languages don't just use c-like syntax... as much as possible at least? Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Yamin) Comments RE: never really understood scripting syntax http://osnews.com/thread?333660 http://osnews.com/thread?333660 I completely agree with you on using parenthesis to signify a function with arguments being passed.

I can live with or without the semicolon at the end of a statement, but whichever way a language chooses to go, they need to be consistent. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Clinton) Comments RE: Not scripting languages http://osnews.com/thread?333696 http://osnews.com/thread?333696
Only two of the languages featured in that article are scripting languages: Groovy and Lua. The rest are general purpose programming languages, even the bonus languages at the end.


Depends on how you define a scripting language, doesn't it? Personally, I think the distinction is somewhat pointless - that a scripting language is simply a language well suited to scripting, regardless of what else it might be suited to. Python is certainly a good language for scripting, and also for larger-scale development. Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Delgarde) Comments RE[3]: scripting languages with static type system? http://osnews.com/thread?333890 http://osnews.com/thread?333890 Most people wouldn't call C a scripting language, yet people clearly write "scripts" with it. Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (SomeGuy) Comments