Differences between Python (scripting programming) and traditional programming C/C++/Fortran etc. (system programming)

This post is a summary from Langtangen's (2009) book Python Scripting for Computational Science (Chapter 1 Introduction).  Langtangen breaks down the programming languages into scritpting and traditional types.  Langtangen comments that these are quite different in programming style and are usually geared towards different goals.  The traditional programming languages are also known as system programming and are used for building (usually large, monolithic) applications (systems).  These languages include Fortran (77/90/95/2003), C, C++, C#, and Java.  Langtangen refers to scripting as programming at a high and abstraction level.  These languages include Perl, pythin, Ruby, Scheme, and Tcl.

Langtangen, H. P. (2009). Python Scripting for Computational Science (3rd ed.). Berlin: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-73916-6