Is Python really a scripting language?

[Neil Cerutti]

On 2007-12-13, Bruno Desthuilliers <bruno.42.desthuilliers at wtf.websiteburo.oops.com> wrote:
> Neil Cerutti a écrit :
>> On 2007-12-13, Steven D'Aprano <steve at REMOVE-THIS-cybersource.com.au> wrote:
>>> I have repeatedly argued in the past that we do ourselves a
>>> disservice by describing Python as an interpreted language.
>>>
>>> Python is compiled. It has a compiler. It even has a built-in
>>> function "compile". It's just not compiled to *machine code* --
>>> but with even machine code often running on a virtual machine
>>> in the CPU(s), the distinction is far less important now than
>>> it was when Sun described Java as a compiled language despite
>>> the lack of JIT compilers.
>> 
>> When folks say Python is an interpreted language I think they
>> mean it informally--they just mean you have to run an interpreter
>> to execute it. 
>
> How often do you hear that Java is "an interpreted language" ?

The difference is the p-code factor. Python's p-code is
(generally) internal only. We could fool more people if we forced
them to create .pyc files before executing the code. ;-)

-- 
Neil Cerutti