Scripting language

A scripting language is a computer programing language that is interpreted at runtime rather than compiled into the native instruction set of the computer in advance.[1] Perl and Javascript are example scripting languages.[2] The primary usage was generalized under Unix to describe scripts for the shell to execute.[3]

With the growth of computer networks and the internet, computer programs are distributed for execution on a large number of different computers without knowing in advance the specific characteristics of each computer. If a set of instructions are sent to the computer in the form of a scripting language, then a program called an "interpreter" (which is written in the native instruction set of the target computer) will execute those instructions without the extra time consuming step of converting the instructions into a stand-alone program expressed in the instruction set of the target computer. In many cases, the interpreter takes the form of a plug-in that has been added to a web browser. So, a computer user viewing a website is not aware of what steps were performed by the website's computer and what steps were performed on the user's own computer.

## References[edit]

1. ↑ http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/scripting_language.html
2. ↑ http://www.tcl.tk/doc/scripting.html
3. ↑ http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ScriptingLanguage