Scripting vs. Programming language vs. 4GL?

I'm embroiled in a debate with my colleagues over the difference between
the term "programming language" and the term "scripting language". I think
that a scripting language is a very limited, high-level language that is
application-specific and intended to be for simple repetition and
sequencing of the application's commands (i.e., a macro language is a
scripting language). On the other hand, a programming language usually
contains all of the requisite components that allow a sophisticated,
Turing-equivalent, program to be built; components such as definable
functions, variables, arrays, and the like.


Others believe that a scripting and a programming language are two names
for the same animal, and that the term "scripting" language is used today
as a marketing tool to avoid the connotations typically associated with
programming; connotations such as pasty-white geeks drinking Jolt cola and
the implication that a programmer must "know how to program", whereas
"anyone" can write a script.


I am interested in what the communal conciousness has to say about these
issues. Are there any standard or commonly accepted definitions for these
terms?




--
      Dan "Bud" Keith dbk@odesta.com


[As far as I can tell, the difference is largely political. Any scripting
language that people actually use tends to grow until it is Turing
complete. -John]
--

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