“Unlike mainstream component programming, scripts usually
do not introduce new components but simply ‘wire’ existing
ones. Scripts can be seen as introducing behavior but no new
state ... Of course, there is nothing to stop a ’scripting’
language from introducing persistent state — it then simply
turns into a normal programming language.”
—Clemens Szyperski, in Component
Software
Overview
Python comes with drivers for a number of very similar database
managers, all modeled after Unix’s dbm library.
These databases behave like ordinary dictionaries, except
that you can only use strings for keys and values (the shelve module can handle any
kind of value).