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Difference between a script and a program? [closed]

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What is the difference between a script and a program? Most of the time I hear that
a script is running, is that not a program? I am bit puzzled, can anybody elaborate
on this?

scripting
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edited Aug 13 '12 at 9:39

Chris
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asked Feb 18 '10 at 5:39

giri
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closed as not constructive by John Saunders, jonsca, Don Roby, Jon Lin, Ben D Dec
24 '12 at 23:27

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11 Answers
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For me, the main difference is that a script is interpreted, while a program is
executed (i.e. the source is first compiled, and the result of that compilation is
expected).
Wikipedia seems to agree with me on this :

Script :

"Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, which is usually
written in a different language, and are often created or at least modified by the
end-user.
Scripts are often interpreted from source code or bytecode, whereas the
applications they control are traditionally compiled to native machine code.
Program :

The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute
the instructions.
The same program in its human-readable source code form, from which executable
programs are derived (e.g., compiled)
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edited Jan 23 '14 at 15:45

streppel
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answered Feb 18 '10 at 5:45

Pascal MARTIN
307k55555594
3
-1 because wikipedia is of course always right. The distinction between compiled
and interpreted is not relevant to the discussion. Nick Bastin Feb 13 '15 at 7:50
1
You say, "(i.e. the source is first compiled, and the result of that compilation is
expected)." Do you mean "compilation is executed"? Big Sharpie Oct 3 '15 at 22:55

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I take a different view.

A "script" is code that acts upon some system in an external or independent manner
and can be removed or disabled without disabling the system itself.

A "program" is code that constitutes a system. The program's code may be written in
a modular manner, with good separation of concerns, but the code is fundamentally
internal to, and a dependency of, the system itself.

Scripts are often interpreted, but not always. Programs are often compiled, but not
always.

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answered Feb 18 '10 at 6:15

Enigmativity
66.4k752115
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Typically, a script is a lightweight, quickly constructed, possibly single-use
tool. It's usually interpreted, not compiled. Python and bash are examples of
languages used to build scripts.

A program is constructed in a compiled language, like C or C++, and usually runs

more quickly than a script for that reason. Larger tools are often written as
"programs" rather than scripts - smaller tools are more easily developed as
scripts, but scripts can get unwieldy as they get larger. Application and system
languages (those used to build programs/applications) have tools to make that
growth easier to manage.

You can usually view a script in a text editor to see what it does. You can't do
that with an executable program - the latter's instructions have been compiled into
bytecode or machine language that makes it very difficult for humans to understand,
without specialized tools.

Note the number of "oftens" and "usuallys" above - the terms are nebulous, and
cross over sometimes.

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edited Feb 18 '10 at 5:52
answered Feb 18 '10 at 5:46

Michael Petrotta
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See:

The Difference Between a Program and a Script

A Script is also a program but without an opaque layer hiding the (source code)
whereas a program is one having clothes, you can't see it's source code unless it
is decompilable.

Scripts need other programs to execute them while programs don't need one.

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edited May 31 at 11:30

Sam Hartman
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answered Feb 18 '10 at 5:42

Sarfraz
271k57436530
6
This link now 404s. Nino Walker May 28 '14 at 4:56
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A "program" in general, is a sequence of instructions written so that a computer
can perform certain task.

A "script" is code written in a scripting language. A scripting language is nothing

but a type of programming language in which we can write code to control another
software application.
In fact, programming languages are of two types:

a. Scripting Language

b. Compiled Language

Please read this: Scripting and Compiled Languages

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edited Mar 28 '12 at 13:28
answered Mar 28 '12 at 3:14

coolscitist
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Scripts are usually interpreted (by another executable).

A program is usually a standalone compiled executable in its own right (although it

might have library dependencies), consisting of machine code or byte codes (for
just-in-time compiled programs)

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answered Feb 18 '10 at 5:42

Mitch Wheat
236k31378477
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According to my perspective, the main difference between script and program:

Scripts can be used with the other technologies. Example: PHP scripts, Javascripts,
etc. can be used within HTML.

Programs are stand-alone chunks of code that can never be embedded into the other
technologies.

If I am wrong at any place please correct me.I will admire your correction.

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edited Dec 24 '12 at 19:26

JoshDM
3,51463056
answered Apr 19 '10 at 9:45

Karan Gupta
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There are really two dimensions to the scripting vs program reality:

Is the language powerful enough, particularly with string operations, to compete

with a macro processor like the posix shell and particularly bash? If it isn't
better than bash for running some function there isn't much point in using it.
Is the language convenient and quickly started? Java, Scala, JRuby, Closure and
Groovy are all powerful languages, but Java requires a lot of boilerplate and the
JVM they all require just takes too long to start up.
OTOH, Perl, Python, and Ruby all start up quickly and have powerful string handling
(and pretty much everything-else-handling) operations, so they tend to occupy the
sometimes-disparaged-but-not-easily-encroached-upon "scripting" world. It turns out
they do well at running entire traditional programs as well.

Left in limbo are languages like Javascript, which aren't used for scripting but
potentially could be. Update: since this was written node.js was released on
multiple platforms. In other news, the question was closed. "Oh well."

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edited Feb 9 '16 at 18:19
answered Feb 18 '10 at 5:48

DigitalRoss
114k14197284
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A framework or other similar schema will run/interpret a script to do a task. A
program is compiled and run by a machine to do a task

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answered Feb 18 '10 at 5:43

hodgesmr
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IMO Script - is the kind of instruction that program supposed to run Program - is
kind of instruction that hardware supposed to run

Though i guess .NET/JAVA byte codes are scripts by this definition

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answered Feb 18 '10 at 5:43

user275809
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script: it contains set of "scripting language" instructions which controls, runs
other system programs, applications also it can be scheduled.

Program: it contains set of instructions, which performs certain task upon

compilation of the program with the compiler.

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answered Mar 28 '12 at 8:25
Som
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