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JA5. Scripting languages

Statement

The Learning Journal is a tool for self-reflection on the learning process. In addition to completing directed tasks, you should use the Learning Journal to document your activities, record problems you may have encountered and to draft answers for Discussion Forums and Assignments. The Learning Journal should be updated regularly (on a weekly basis), as the learning journals will be assessed by your instructor as part of your Final Grade.

1. Describe what you did, You need to describe what you did and how you did it

As usual, I started the week by trying some of the self quizzes which gave me an insight about what to expect. I then read the reading assignments, answered the discussions questions and here I am writing the learning journal. The topic of this week was about Scripting languages.

The scripting languages included the definition of scripting languages, perl, python, regular expressions, TCL/TK, Javascript, PHP, and the difference between system languages and scripting languages.

2. Describe your reactions to what you did

I enjoyed the video lectures as they were very informative and easy to understand. I also enjoyed the reading assignments especiallly ( John K. Ousterhout, n.d.) as they were full of knowledge. The discussions questions were about comparing Javascript and PHP.

3. Describe any feedback you received or any specific interactions you had. Discuss how they were helpful

I did not receive any interesting feedback that worth mentioning.

4. Describe your feelings and attitudes

Perl was a very popular scripting languages for building web pages in the 90s, however, it being replaced by newer generations like PHP and Javascript. System programming languages where created on the 60s on top of Assembly; then the scripting languages came on top of system programming languages.

The scripting languages are usually used for command scripts, applications, markup, web pages, and commonly used scripting languages.

5. Describe what you learned

As mentioned above, I learned about the difference between system programming languages and scripting languages, syntax and features of Perl, Python, TCL/TK, Javascript, PHP, and others. I also learned about regular expressions and their syntax that is used to build a patterns that can be used to match strings.

We also touched the areas that scripting languages are used in, and the effect of Interne’s growth, shift away from OOP, and the raise of using GUIs on the history and the features of scripting languages.

6. What surprised me or caused me to wonder?

I surprised that Perl was very popular in the 90s, and it was used to build web pages, but I did not hear about it before. I have to say that its syntax seems very weird to me, and I do not think I will ever use it. But these kind of syntax was just fine in the 90s.

7. What happened that felt particularly challenging? Why was it challenging to me?

Exploring and learning the syntax of various programming languages in a week is a bit tough, especially with other courses that I am taking; but I made a little notes with few examples of each language next to each other so I can compare them easily.

8. What skills and knowledge do I recognize that I am gaining?

I was a developer who used to write Javascript code for a few years now and I thought I know Javascript well, but I was wrong. I learned a lot about Javascript this week, and I am sure I will learn more in the future. I also learned what makes a language a scripting language, and the difference any other language and scripting languages.

9. What am I realizing about myself as a learner?

I am realizing that I learn faster by contract as I used to put different stuff next to each others in my notes; I used this trick in checking the syntax of different languages and it was very helpful.

10. In what ways am I able to apply the ideas and concepts gained to my own experience?

I work with Javascript a lot, the knowledge that I got on scripting languages directly applies to javascript. The section about javascript was very helpful to me as it gave a sense of how the javascript historically looked like, and how it is now.

11. Describe one important thing that you are thinking about in relation to the activity

I thought that scripting languages were just interpreted languages but I know now that scripting languages having a set of characteristics like being interpreted, dynamic typing, native support for string processes, and most importantly, the ability to call external programs and glue them together.

References