Talk:Python (programming language)/Archive 6: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:18, 9 October 2021

Latest revision as of 12:02, 1 October 2024

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Trouble is, "scripting language" is a problematic expression. Python is sometimes used for scripting, but it's also used for applications. It certainly isn't a ''systems'' language -- you wouldn't write device drivers in it -- but the notion that every language is either "systems" or "scripting" is a false dichotomy.

As for "interpreted", that's also problematic. CPython is a bytecode compiler and virtual machine. (You can get native-code compilation with Psyco, or by using Jython (to generate Java bytecode) and a native-code Java compiler.) Python is never an "interpreter" in the classic sense of a program that converts source code to an [[abstract syntax tree]] and runs the program by walking the tree, like <ttcode>eval</ttcode> in freshman Lisp interpreters.

Yes, people often use "interpreter" to mean the Python ''interactive console'', but that's a bit of a solecism. If you define "interpreter" that way, then Python has an interpreter but Perl doesn't -- even though both use the same execution strategy under the hood. (Using "interpreter" to mean "interactive console" also pisses off the Lisp folks, who will point out that [[SBCL]] compiles everything to machine code, even expressions you type in interactively.)