Helpful answer: Python is a programming language. It can be used to create scripts, making it a scripting language as well.
More or less by definition, a scripting language is a programming language.
In a practical sense, and as stonemetal says, there is no real-world difference between a programming language and a scripting language.
In a technical sense though, one might consider a programming language to have a compiler and linker and debugger and able to create stand-alone executable files. Most scripting languages can also do that these days.
Perhaps the best guide then is intent - if a language is intended for script tasks (Windows/DOS batch files, for example, or even PHP), it is a scripting language. If the language supports a wider focus, it is a more general purpose programming language (Python, C, PERL, Java, etc.).
Ultimately, the best tool for the job, selected from the tools you know :) If you're writing a web application, there are a few languages either explicitly designed for that (PHP is a good/bad example), but many other languages can do it as well (Python, C, PERL, Java, etc.). If you're writing a desktop application, PHP would not be your best bet, but Python might not be either. Ditto mobile apps.
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Helpful answer: Python is a programming language. It can be used to create scripts, making it a scripting language as well.
More or less by definition, a scripting language is a programming language.
In a practical sense, and as stonemetal says, there is no real-world difference between a programming language and a scripting language.
In a technical sense though, one might consider a programming language to have a compiler and linker and debugger and able to create stand-alone executable files. Most scripting languages can also do that these days.
Perhaps the best guide then is intent - if a language is intended for script tasks (Windows/DOS batch files, for example, or even PHP), it is a scripting language. If the language supports a wider focus, it is a more general purpose programming language (Python, C, PERL, Java, etc.).
Ultimately, the best tool for the job, selected from the tools you know :) If you're writing a web application, there are a few languages either explicitly designed for that (PHP is a good/bad example), but many other languages can do it as well (Python, C, PERL, Java, etc.). If you're writing a desktop application, PHP would not be your best bet, but Python might not be either. Ditto mobile apps.