A
scripting or
script language is a
programming language that supports
scripts, programs written for a special
run-time environment that
automate the
execution of tasks that could alternatively be executed one-by-one by a human operator. Scripting languages are often
interpreted (rather than
compiled). Primitives are usually the elementary tasks or
API calls, and the language allows them to be combined into more complex programs. Environments that can be automated through scripting include
software applications,
web pages within a
web browser, the
shells of
operating systems (OS),
embedded systems, as well as numerous games. A scripting language can be viewed as a
domain-specific language for a particular environment; in the case of scripting an application, this is also known as an
extension language. Scripting languages are also sometimes referred to as
very high-level programming languages, as they operate at a high level of abstraction, or as
control languages, particularly for job control languages on mainframes.
