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A '''scripting language''' or '''script language''' is a [[programming language]] that supports [[scripts]].

== Description ==

Scripts are [[computer program|programs]] written for a [[run-time environment]] that can [[interpret]] source code.

This is by contrast with programs which required the source code to be [[Compiler|compiled]] into an executable program.

== Uses for scripting languages ==

Environments that can be automated through scripting include software applications, web pages within a web browser, the shells of [[Operating system|operating systems]] (OS), and embedded systems.

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.

The term "scripting language" is also used loosely to refer to dynamic high-level general-purpose language, such as [[Perl]], Tcl, and [[Python (programming language)|Python]], with the term "script" often used for small programs (up to a few thousand lines of code) in such languages, or in domain-specific languages such as the [[text-processing languages]] [[sed]] and [[AWK]].

Some of these languages were originally developed for use within a particular environment, and later developed into portable domain-specific or general-purpose languages.

Conversely, many general-purpose languages have dialects that are used as scripting languages. This article discusses scripting languages in the narrow sense of languages for a specific environment; dynamic, general-purpose, and high-level languages are discussed at those articles.

The spectrum of scripting languages ranges from very small and highly domain-specific languages to general-purpose programming languages used for scripting.

== Examples ==

Standard examples of scripting languages for specific environments include: 

* Bash, for the Unix or Unix-like operating systems
* ECMAScript ([[JavaScript]]), for [[Web browser|web browsers]]
* [[Visual Basic for Applications]], for [[Microsoft Office]] applications. 

Lua is a language designed and widely used as an extension language. 

[[Python (programming language)|Python]]is a general-purpose language that is also commonly used as an extension language, while ECMAScript is still primarily a scripting language for web browsers, but is also used as a general-purpose language.

The Emacs Lisp dialect of Lisp (for the Emacs editor) and the Visual Basic for Applications dialect of Visual Basic are examples of scripting language dialects of general-purpose languages.

== Game scripting ==

Some game systems, notably the Second Life virtual world and the Trainz franchise of Railroad simulators have been extensively extended in functionality by scripting extensions.

== See also ==

* [[Client-side scripting]]
* [[Computer program]]
* [[Computer programming]]
* [[Computer science]]
* [[General-purpose programming language]]
* [[Programming language]]
* [[Server-side scripting]]

== External links == 

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scripting_language Scripting language] @ Wikipedia

[[Category:Computer programming]]
[[Category:Computing]]
[[Category:Web design and development]]