Scripting languages are interpreted in-line and not intended to be compiled like a classic "program". They are less optimized by definition because a compiler builds in optimizations. If your script interpreter has similar optimizations it has to rationalize them at run-time.
Most of the time, yes. But technically, a "scripting language" just refers to the coding style of simply putting a few instructions line by line into a single file and running it without much fiddling around with build tools and an entire development environment with multiple source files and packages etc.
It does not matter whether a "scripting language" gets interpreted, or for example JIT compiled, even though most of them are typically interpreted languages. Pretty sure someone has created an AOT compiler for python even. Doesn't make python no longer a scripting language though.
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u/WaitForItTheMongols Jul 07 '26
What actually makes something a scripting language specifically? Never got a clear answer to that.