A scripting language is a programming language that allows control of one or more software applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, which is usually written in a different language. Scripts are often interpreted from source code or bytecode, whereas the applications they control are traditionally compiled to native machine code. Scripting languages are nearly always embedded in the applications they control. Early scripting languages were often called batch languages or job control languages. Such early scripting languages were created to shorten the traditional edit-compile-link-run process. An example of a script program implementation may be found with Firefox. Firefox is written in C/C++ and can be controlled by JavaScript.

Bash, JavaScript, Perl, Python, Tcl, Tcl/TK, and Unix Shell are all examples of scripting languages that are deployed in open-source environments. The courseware in this category includes courses covering the basics all the way up to object-oriented and CGI programming using Perl.