Scripting languages are often considered to be very high level and can commonly run without compilation. Making them great to automate tasks or create a simplified interaction/abstraction layer to a more complex program.

Then Python is not a scripting language.

Programming languages usually have much lower level access, and by extension they tend to be more complicated. In exchange for that, you get much more control.

Would you consider C to be more or less complicated than Perl?

[–] mriswith@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

The first comment worked as bait, but that last question is way too obvious.

Although just for fun:

Then Python is not a scripting language.

That is true. It is often used as one, but it was developed from the start as a general-purpose language.

Would you consider C to be more or less complicated than Perl?

You know about Python, Perl and C. You know the answer and you're just trying to incense people.

[–] frezik@midwest.social 4 points 2 months ago

No, I'm trying to get people to think. If I laid out my full opinions on this subject (compilers and interpreters aren't that different anymore, even machine code often runs more like bytecode in many ways, "scripting" is a term that hides what's actually going on, etc.), then people get into endless debates. My questions are designed to pick apart assumptions.

Admittedly, people didn't appreciate when Socrates did this shit, either.