Scripting language

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“A scripting language, script language or extension language, is a programming language that controls a software application. "Scripts" are often treated as distinct from "programs", which execute independently from any other application. At the same time they are distinct from the core code of the application, which is usually written in a different language, and by being accessible to the end user they enable the behavior of the application to be adapted to the user's needs. Scripts are often, but not always, interpreted from the source code or "semi-compiled" to bytecode which is interpreted, unlike the applications they are associated with, which are traditionally compiled to native machine code for the system on which they run. Scripting languages are nearly always embedded in the application with which they are associated.” (Wikipedia, retrieved 10:05, 18 August 2008 (UTC)).

In Daniel K. Schneider's opinion, the distinction between a scripting language and a "normal" programming language is not an easy one. Scripting languages usually are:

interpreted (or compiled on the fly to some code that is then executed)
an extension of some software (e.g. a web browser, a web server, a game, a multimedia authoring environment.
simple, e.g. usually don't require variable and class definition.

However, popular scripting languages like JavaScript and PHP are defined independently of an application, can be run in several environments and allow also for a more strict type of programming...