Book Image

Learning Penetration Testing with Python

By : Christopher Duffy
Book Image

Learning Penetration Testing with Python

By: Christopher Duffy

Overview of this book

Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Learning Penetration Testing with Python
Credits
Disclaimer
About the Author
Acknowlegements
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Understanding the difference between interpreted and compiled languages


Python, like Ruby and Perl, is an interpreted language, which means that the code is turned into a machine language and run as the script is executed. A language that needs to be compiled prior to running, such as Cobol, C, or C++, can be more efficient and faster, as it is compiled prior to execution, but it also means that the code is typically less portable. As compiled code is generated for specific environments, it may not be as useful when you have to move through heterogeneous environments.

Note

A heterogeneous environment is an environment that has multiple system types and different distributions. So, there may be multiple Unix/Linux distributions, Mac OS, and Windows systems.

Interpreted code usually has the benefit of being portable to different locations as long as the interpreter is available. So for Python scripts, as long as the script is not developed for an operating system, the interpreter is installed...