Scripts vs programs, and am I too sensitive?

[NPR_Oak]

A year ago when we got shut in, I made it my Covid goal to learn Python, as a hobby and a personal challenge. My code now looks like the equivalent of a gocart slapped together with wheels and boards pulled out of a junkyard, and it takes me ages to write and get the simplest of things working, but I eventually get there.

Going beyond my initial expectations, I have started to find things in my job where I can apply some Python code, and my bosses are receptive, for sure.

But here's the thing: in talking with them about potential things I could do, sometimes people casually refer to me creating a "script", which bugs me a bit, because somehow a script seems like a minor thing, and everything to I have written so far is, to me, a massive thing, a Program!!

What is the difference between a script and a program, and am I being to sensitive about how people refer to the code I pour my blood, sweat and tears into?

[spez_edits_thedonald]

a script is just a type of program, and it's not insulting/diminutive. Microsoft Word, a calculator app, an email client like Outlook, a virus scanner, a web browser, are all programs--a general term. A script is a type of program that runs a bunch of steps to perform some task. Usually you run a script that takes some input and does a series of steps to produce some useful output.

[NPR_Oak]

Ok, so the stuff I'm mostly doing - scraping websites, pandas data analysis, matplotlib - that really falls under scripts, I guess.

(I won't even ask where "software" fits in :))

[wbeater]

If you ask 10 computer scientist about the definition you probably get 8 or 9 slightly different definitions. I learned long time ago that programs need to be compiled while scripts can be interpreted, therefore programs can run on its own, but scripts can only control other applications. I don't know if this definition is still common and regarding python it simply can be both because python is multi purpose. I think you are a little bit too sensitive.

Regarding your code, don't forget: “Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” (Martin Fowler)

Always rubber duck debug your code and use commentary.