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copied!<p>I urge you to try <a href="http://www.lua.org/" rel="noreferrer">Lua</a>. Regarding your requirements:</p> <ul> <li>Tiny footprint (56 source files, under 150K compiled)</li> <li>Runs everywhere (uses only ANSI C)</li> <li>No installer needed; you compile from source (there's also a <a href="http://luaforwindows.luaforge.net/" rel="noreferrer">"batteries included" package</a> that I haven't explored</li> <li>Doesn't need JVM and works with any ANSI C compiler, so you can compile with Visual Studio, not Cygwin</li> <li>Works with external processes and files but only to the extent supported by ANSI C. If POSIX <code>popen</code> is provided then that is supported also.</li> </ul> <p>And your bonus points:</p> <ul> <li>Open source (MIT license)</li> <li>FFI to C is brilliantly conceived and executed—not quite as simple as Tcl but loads more powerful. <em>Much</em> better integration with C than Python or Ruby.</li> <li>GUI support is mixed but there are good bindings for wx widgets. QT support was there at one time but I don't know if it has been maintained.</li> <li>Linux is supported</li> <li>Language/compiler features: <ul> <li>Dynamic</li> <li>Functional</li> <li>Prototype-based objects and inheritance through <em>metamethods</em> (you'll want to see examples in the book below</li> <li>Fastest bytecode compiler in the West</li> <li>Interactive read-eval-print loop; load new code dynamically</li> </ul></li> <li>Able to package scripts into executables; either use Luiz de Figueiredo's <a href="http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/~lhf/ftp/lua/#srlua" rel="noreferrer"><code>srlua</code></a>, or I can send you a 120-line Lua script that converts Lua source to a .c file that you link in with your app and the interpreter to make an executable.</li> </ul> <p>Additional bonus points:</p> <ul> <li>Very crisp, clean, well-designed language.</li> <li>Small enough to master in its entirety and to be productive within a day.</li> <li>Superb book <a href="http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/pil2/" rel="noreferrer"><em>Programming in Lua</em></a> (check out the <a href="http://www.lua.org/pil/" rel="noreferrer">previous edition free online</a>)</li> </ul>

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