CocoaDev

A ScriptingLanguage is the counterpart of a compiled language. ScriptingLanguages are interpreted, whilst compiled languages are, well, compiled, turned into machine code.

Examples of ScriptingLanguages: PerlLang, PythonLang, RubyLang, PHPLang, JavaScript

Examples of CompiledLanguages: ObjC, JaVA, C/C++

(ignore the “Lang” part, it’s just for the WordsJammedTogether syntax)

Oh, and don’t forget about AppleScript…. :)

Java isn’t compiled in quite the same sense that C is, though, since it’s compiled to a byte code and then recompiled at execution time. Right?

– FinlayDobbie

Java is compiled to binary code that a JavaVirtualMachine can run, in the same way that a C program is compiled to binary code that a PowerPC or Intel machine can run. The JavaVM then translates the Java instructions into PPC or x86 instructions (or system calls, dunno). Has anyone tried JavaVM assembler?

– TheoHultberg

Has anyone tried JavaVM assembler? Not worth the time. I wouldn’t want to write the Java assembly code required for a simple loop as illustrated in this example from The Java Virtual Machine Specification [http://java.sun.com/docs/books/vmspec/]. Most of us would get more out of learning more Cocoa. – BruceB

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/vmspec/2nd-edition/html/Compiling.doc.html

The spin method simply spins around an empty for loop 100 times:

void spin() { int i;

for (i = 0; i < 100; i++) { 
      ;                           // Loop body is empty 
} }

A compiler might compile spin to

Method void spin()

0 iconst_0 // Push int constant 0 1 istore_1 // Store into local variable 1 ( i=0) 2 goto 8 // First time through don’t increment 5 iinc 1 1 // Increment local variable 1 by 1 ( i++ ) 8 iload_1 // Push local variable 1 ( i) 9 bipush 100 // Push int constant 100 11 if_icmplt 5 // Compare and loop if less than ( i<100 ) 14 return // Return void when done

Generally, “scripting langauges” have a high instant-gratification factor, and frequently string-oriented (perl, tcl, python, etc). You write your script, and it runs. Compiled languages have a compilation and (many times) a linking phase. Even though Java is interpreted by the JVM, it’s considered to be a compiled langauge since it actually gets explicitly compiled, and doesn’t have the light-weight, string-oriented flavor to it.

Jython - http://www.jython.org is very powerful. It combines Python (interpreted) with Java’s classes.

PyObjC might also be an option.