A scripting language is not compiled into machine code but interpreted “on the fly” by a script interpreter, which makes scripting languages slower than compiled languages. Scripting languages are popular among system administrators, primarily because they incorporate many of the tools and syntactical elements that the administrator is already familiar with. In fact, the command-line interpreters in Windows and in UNIX are scripting language interpreters also featuring an interactive mode—the command prompt or shell.

See Also: Administrator; Shell; UNIX.