Programming vs Scripting vs Markup Language

date

Jul 20, 2024

slug

programming-scripting-markup

status

Published

Programming Language

Computers are interacted with using programming languages to create desktop applications, websites, and smartphone apps. It is a list of guidelines intended to help someone achieve a specific objective. Typically, programming languages have two parts: syntax (form) and meaning. They are used to carry out algorithms and give computers the ability to move.

Three groups can be made up of programming languages:

Machine language: A low-level language that computers can easily understand is called machine language. They are the fundamental language of computers and are made up of binary or hexadecimal commands.

Assembly language: Another low-level computer language designed for particular processors is assembly language (ASM). The collection of instructions is simply symbolized and represented in a way that is comprehensible to humans. An assembler is used to convert assembly code to machine language.

High-level language: A high-level programming language called HLL is used to develop user-friendly websites and applications. A compiler or interpreter must be used with this computing language in order to translate user-written code into machine language (language understood by the computer). The primary benefit of a high-level language is that it is straightforward to read, write, and maintain. High-level computer languages include Python, Java, JavaScript, PHP, C#, C++, Cobol, Perl, Pascal, LISP, FORTRAN, and Swift.

Scripting Language

A computer language created especially for runtime settings is known as a scripting language. It executes duties automatically. These languages add new functionalities to the applications because they are interpreted languages (An interpreter performs instructions written in a programming or scripting language directly, without first requiring that they have been compiled into a machine language program).

These languages are typically quick and condensed, and they read byte code or source code. Most scripting languages are open-sourced and supported by almost every platform, so no specialized software is needed to operate them since they are a set of commands that can be executed without the aid of a program.

Types of Scripting Languages

There are two types of scripting languages — server-side and client-side.

Server-side refers to any code that runs on the server in the background. For example, the PHP code that powers a WordPress website is executed on the server, not by the browser itself. Other server-side scripting languages are Ruby, Python, etc.

Client-side refers to anything that runs on the user's web browser. For example, JavaScript code can be read and interpreted by a browser. JavaScript allows the programmer to add interactivity to the website, which allows you to experience websites fully.

Key Features of Scripting Language

Easy to learn and use: They are high-level programming languages, meaning they are written to make sense to those who use them.

Open-source and free: The majority of them are open-sourced.

Cross-Platform: Another key benefit of scripting languages is their portability and cross-platform nature, as they can be used with any browser on any operating system and platform since they don’t need any extra software to function.

Lighter memory requirements: They don’t need to be compiled before use; rather, they are interpreted. This means they require one less step than other programming languages. As a result, the systems that operate them need less memory.

Runtime Execution: A system that allows code to be executed during runtime can be used to configure and modify a program while it is actively using the system. Runtime code execution supports extensive in-game console functionality and debugging.

Safe and secure: Security has been a priority in the creation of scripting languages. A scripting language prevents native code from accessing data stored in the script and does not permit any unauthorized actions to be carried out from the script.

Markup Language

Markup languages are completely different from programming languages and scripting languages. Markup languages prepare a structure for the data or prepare the look or design of a page. These are presentational languages and it doesn’t include any kind of logic or algorithm.

Examples of Markup languages are HTML or XML. These languages are most widely used to design a website. HTML is not asking any kind of question to the computer or it’s not comparing things and it’s not asking any logical question. It’s just used to represent a view inside a web browser. It tells the browser how to structure data for a specific page or styling a page in a particular way. So basically it involves formatting data or it controls the presentation of data.

Scripting vs. Programming Languages

All scripting is a form of programming, but not all programming is scripting. Scripting languages are actually a subset of programming languages.

The power of scripting languages is their ability to automate digital tasks. In simple terms, scripting languages are digital instructions that control another programming language.

scripting languages are dependent on other programs, which read the code. You cannot use them to build independent applications like you can with conventional languages. The programmer does not create a separate file for the program. Rather, the code is incorporated into an existing file. Scripts written in scripting languages must be run within the shell or program they were designed to run in. They cannot be compiled into a program or run from the command prompt.

Scripting languages tend to provide less direct control over the hardware. With a conventional language, programmers can more easily manage processor, memory and input/output resources.

Scripting languages also tend to be loosely typed. This means that a variable's type is not defined within the code, but is determined at runtime and depends on the variable's value. In addition, a variable's type can sometimes change during the script's execution.

Conventional programming languages are strongly typed, which means that a type is assigned to the variable when it is defined. In this way, errors are more likely to get caught during compilation rather than at runtime, resulting in code that is more reliable. Strongly typed variables also mean that they cannot be inadvertently changed to the wrong type.

Scripting languages are interpreted by Interpreter within a program or shell rather than compiled. The program or shell that does the interpreting reads and executes one line of code at a time (converted to machine language one line at a time). This differs from other programming languages, which must be compiled before they are run (compiled all at once to convert to machine language). When they are compiled, an .exe file is created, which is used to run the program directly from the operating system.

Scripting languages are generally slower than programming languages because compiled programs are first converted into machine code.

As scripting languages and their translators have evolved over time, the lines have begun to blur between what should and what should not be classified as a scripting language. Today, many believe that the classification should not be determined by the language itself, but rather by how the language is being used.