[OT] difference of Scripting and programming

[Billy Tallis]

> > > 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?
> 
> I think the essence and intent of what you are saying is exactly what I
> was thinking, but is there a loophole there ?
> 

You do not have to have the compiler installed to run a C program. The
same cannot be said for python or shell scripts. Yes, you usually need
a libc for C programs, but they can be statically linked, producing an
executable that already has every instruction that it might execute.