P.H.P. and Python

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 03:46:19PM -0400, Christopher Browne wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 2:33 PM,  <jemcinto-cpI+UMyWUv+w5LPnMra/2Q at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > I used to think that P.H.P. and Python were programming languages.
> >
> >  Then someone told me that they were not programming languages, but
> >  scripting languages.
> >
> >  Now I have read that P.H.P. and Python are neither programming languages
> >  nor scripting languages, but are instead frameworks.
> >
> >  What are the differences between programming languages, scripting
> >  languages, and frameworks ?
> 
> The "snobbery" surrounding "real programming languages" versus
> "scripting languages" dates somewhat back to the mainframe days where
> the two sorts of languages interacted in a very strongly imposed
> fashion:
> 
> - "Real" programmers wrote code in languages like FORTRAN, COBOL,
> PL/1, and such like, which compiled into object code.[1]
> - "Computer operators" would then write 'scripts', initially in JCL,
> and later, in EXEC and REXX, or DCL, which would connect the 'real
> programs' to the files that they needed to access.  The scripts were
> mere "plumbing" for execution of the "real" code, written by the
> "real" programmers.
> 
> In the world of Unix, the "compiled" language was typically C.  Bourne
> shell was a tad friendlier than JCL and DCL, offering more opportunity
> to implement logic in it.  But a common way to do things in C would
> be:
> - Write some essential functionality in C
> - Write a script that uses the C code, along with tools like sort,
> awk, grep, sed, and such, to perform work.
> 
> Over time, the functionality of the scripting languages grew, so that
> you might be able to have more or less sophisticated logic implemented
> in them.
> 
> Perl emerged, in particular, as an extensible scripting language.  As
> its capabilities grew, the need to jump out to 'sort', 'awk', 'sed',
> and 'grep' diminished, as relevant features were drawn into the
> scripting language.
> 
> Eventually, there were enough function libraries (CPAN!) for Perl that
> you mightn't need to do any C work in order to generate applications
> of interesting complexity.  Simultaneously, people that thought Perl
> looked like line noise started building alternatives, from whence
> emerged Python, Ruby, and such.
> 
> Increasingly, those that treat "scripting languages" as toys evidence
> bigotry that suggests that they are still tied to the likes of PL/1
> and JCL ;-).
> 
> [1] The Real Programmers wrote in languages like C, PL/1, and such,
> languages spelled out in CAPITAL LETTERS.  :-)

JCL, DCL and REXX look like capital letters to me. :)

-- 
Len Sorensen
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