Linux Journal Survey

[Florian Diesch]

Albert van der Horst <albert at spenarnc.xs4all.nl> wrote:

> In article <56eb736f-5ba3-417a-a4c1-3a310a67c3d3 at s12g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
> Russ P. <Russ.Paielli at gmail.com> wrote:
>>On Jan 23, 7:42 pm, George Sakkis <george.sak... at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Jan 23, 8:14 pm, dwb... at gmail.com wrote:
>>>
>>> > The annual Linux Journal survey is online now for any Linux users who
>>> > want to vote for Python.  http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1006101
>>>
>>> ...
>>>
>>> 18. What is your favorite programming language?
>>>
>>> (15 choices, Python not included)
>>>
>>> 19. What is your favorite scripting language?
>>>
>>> o Python
>>>
>>> o Perl
>>>
>>> (5 more choices)
>>>
>>> Python is much more than a "scripting language" (whatever this means,
>>> other than a semi-derogatory term used by clueless PHBs). Sorry, I'll
>>> pass.
>>>
>>> George
>>
>>
>>Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I think of a Python
>>"script" as a flat source file with no (or few) functions or classes,
>>whereas a full-blown "program" has functions and classes. Both have
>>their place.
>>
>>I agree it is unfortunate that the Linux World poll classified Python
>>as a "scripting language." I suspect they did that because Python is
>>not (typically) compiled and does not have static typing.
>
> In the context of linux a programming language is
> a language that generates an ELF binary executable to be stored
> in a /.../bin/ directory.
> A scripting language is a language whose programs are normally
> distributed in human-readable form. It is appropriate to call

So a scripting language is a language that is usually used for Open
Source software while a programming language is usually used for
ClosedSource software?

What kind of language has C been in the good old days when gcc
produced aout binaries instead of ELF?

> such a program a script. If the first two characters is "#!"
> and the execution bit is set, it is a script in the linux sense.

Thanks to the binfmt_misc kernel module you can execute python byte 
code just like you execute native code:

diesch at vogon:~% bin/hello 
Hello world!
diesch at vogon:~% file bin/hello
bin/hello: python 2.5 byte-compiled
diesch at vogon:~% head -n1 bin/hello 
³ò

> So as far as I can tell it boils down to a clear technical
> distinction

IMHO it's neither a clear nor a useful one.


   Florian
-- 
<http://www.florian-diesch.de/>
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