Use of scripts?

[ofnuts]

Since this thread is revived... for me the big difference between a script and a program is that most of the work in the script is done by "other" code, so there is little application logic in the script itself, which very often doesn't even sees the actual data.. The whole script is governed by these external functions and the efficiency of the script depends more on how these functions are used than on the script code itself. In other words writing a script is like building a stone wall... you mostly make the mortar and choose/layout the stones, while a true program is more like a concrete wall where you do everything. Of course things aren't that binary and some "programs" that rely on big frameworks are themselves pretty close to scripts.

[scruffyeagle]

I like that definition, point of distinction, between programs & scripts; that, the bulk of the application logic doing the actual work is elsewhere. However, I still think that in order to be considered a script, it must remain human-readable; i.e., once it's converted to machine code, even w/ no change of contents, it ceases to be a script & becomes a program.

(Are you sure that last line is what you intended to write?)