What is the origin/history of the word script in programming?

robnagler..

Thanks for a very interesting question.  Before looking how the word
script is used in programming, we should look at the etymology of the
word as a whole as this helps us figure out why the word script is
used in programming.  The word script has several origins:  The Middle
English word skript, which is a piece of writing.  Skript is an 
alteration of scrite, from Old French escrit which itself is from
Latin scriptum, from neuter past participle of scrbere, or, to write.

In programming, a script is a set of instructions. The computer
executes the instructions, then returns data, a value -- which could
be a number, a string, a list, or another data type.  Scripts and
scripting (as well as the term 'script') have been around since the
1960's.  The first widely used script was JCL, or Job Control
Language.  This script was used to sequence the flow of data card
decks for mainframe computers.  Being that scripts are lines of
instruction that are written, very simlarly to the way that movie
scripts give directions to actors and other guidance, the term seemd
to fit for the engineers that created the first scripting language. 
The primary reason for coming with a new term was to differentiate
scripts and scripting from natural languages, or programing languages,
and programing and programs.  Scripts are a a sequence of instructions
that are carried out by another program as opposed to an acutal
program itself.

Thanks again for your question and if you need any additional
clarification, please let me know.

Regards,

-THV

Search Strategy:
history of scripting
etymology of script
first use of "script" in programming

References:
dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=script

What is a script?
http://frontier.userland.com/tutorial/whatIsAScript

History of Scripting
http://www.tcl.tk/doc/scriptHistory.html

Whatis.com
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,289893,sid9_gci212948,00.html

Economist.com Internet Guide
http://www.economist.co.uk/research/InternetGuide/alphabetic.cfm?TERM=SERVLET#SCRIPT

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Request for Answer Clarification by robnagler-ga on 08 Jan 2003 07:32 PST

Could you give me a link which identifies the origin:

   that scripts are lines of
   instruction that are written, very simlarly to the way that movie
   scripts give directions to actors and other guidance, the term seemd
   to fit for the engineers that created the first scripting language. 

I am interested in understanding why there is a dichotomy:

http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?Ousterhout's+dichotomy

And, in general, when scripting started to be a pejorative term.

Thanks,
Rob

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Clarification of Answer by tar_heel_v-ga on 08 Jan 2003 08:21 PST

Rob..

I have gone straight the horse's mouth on this one.  I have an email
on the way to John Ousterhout, the founder and developer of TCL, one
of the earliest scripting languages and the developer of Ousterhout's
Dichotomy, which differs programming languages and scripting languages
[http://burks.brighton.ac.uk/burks/foldoc/31/85.htm]

While I await his response, I will find a firm source for timing of
the term scripting.

-THV