Editing Cross-platform software (section)

====Scripts and interpreted languages====
A script can be considered to be cross-platform if its [[Interpreter (computing)|interpreter]] is available on multiple platforms and the script only uses the facilities built into the language. For example, a script written in [[Python (programming language)|Python]] for a [[Unix-like]] system will likely run with little or no modification on Windows, because Python also runs on Windows; indeed there are many implementations (e.g. [[IronPython]] for [[.NET Framework]]). The same goes for many of the [[open-source software|open-source]] [[scripting languages]].

Unlike binary executable files, the same script can be used on all computers that have software to interpret the script. This is because the script is generally stored in [[plain text]] in a [[text file]]. There may be some trivial issues, such as the representation of a [[newline|new line character]].

Some popular cross-platform scripting languages are:

* [[Bash (Unix shell)|bash]] – A [[Unix shell]] commonly run on Linux and other modern Unix-like systems, as well as on Windows via the [[Cygwin]] [[POSIX]] compatibility layer, [[Git]] for Windows, or the [[Windows Subsystem for Linux]].
* [[Perl]] – First released in 1987. Used for [[Common Gateway Interface|CGI]] programming, small [[system administration]] tasks, and more.
* [[PHP]] – Mostly used for web applications.
* [[Python (programming language)|Python]] – A language which focuses on [[rapid application development]] and ease of writing, instead of run-time efficiency.
* [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]] – An object-oriented language which aims to be easy to read. Can also be used on the web through [[Ruby on Rails]].
* [[Tcl]] – A dynamic programming language, suitable for a wide range of uses, including web and desktop applications, networking, administration, testing and many more.