Scripting: Higher Level Programming for the 21st Century
John Ousterhout
Sun Microsystems Laboratories
As we near the end of the 20th century a fundamental change is occurring
in the way people write computer programs. The change is a transition
from system programming languages such as C or C++ to scripting languages
such as Perl or Tcl. Although many people are participating in the
change, few people realize that it is occurring and even fewer people
know why it is happening. In this talk I will explain why scripting
languages will handle many of the programming tasks of the next century
better than system programming languages. Scripting languages represent
a very different style of programming than system programming languages.
They are designed for "gluing" applications, and use typeless approaches
to achieve a higher level of programming and more rapid application
development. Increases in computer speed and changes in the application
mix are making scripting languages more and more important for
applications of the future. After presenting the general issues
associated with scripting I will discuss how scripting relates to agents,
and where scripting does and doesn't make sense for intelligent and
mobile agents.