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What is the main difference between Scripting Languages and Programming Languages?

I'd like to know what defines a language as a scripting language compared against other programming languages. Some possible scripting languages might include AutoCad LISP, Linux Bash, DOS Batch, Javascript or ActionScript in Flash.

Where is the distinction made that makes a language a scripting language? Are there a set of clearly define rules to classify it as such?

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ah, that is an exact duplicate. sorry. – Mathew Foscarini Jun 26 '12 at 19:43

marked as duplicate by Yannis Rizos♦ Jun 26 '12 at 19:38

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

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Scripting languages are a subset of programming languages. Wikipedia describes them pretty well:

A scripting language or script language is a programming language that supports the writing of scripts, programs written for a software environment that automate the execution of tasks which could alternatively be executed one-by-one by a human operator.

Scripts can be written and executed "on-the-fly", without explicit compile and link steps; they are typically created or modified by the person executing them.

A scripting language is usually interpreted from source code or bytecode. By contrast, the software environment the scripts are written for is typically written in a compiled language and distributed in machine code form; the user may not have access to its source code, let alone be able to modify it.

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Nope. Qualifying a language as a scripting language or a programming language is like asking for "true OOP" or "true religion". It's an entirely subjective and worthless qualifier. Either a language is good for your specific use, or it's not, and there's nothing more to it.

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