It is based on OLE Automation (part of COM) and allows installation of additional scripting engines in the form of COM modules.
Active Scripting can also be used for general-purpose scripting, such as database programming, text-processing, rapid prototyping, and application macro/scripting programming; some applications use Active Scripting as the main automation method, others do not have a macro facility but the components are available for use via the API; or one may opt to add a language and/or tool not available by default, like programming Microsoft Excel in Perl or REXX rather than Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) or transferring data from a terminal emulator to word processor by way of a spreadsheet when they have dissimilar macro tools or none at all.
Some of the most popular include:[1] In Windows, CScript.exe at the command line and WScript.exe running in the GUI are the main means of implementation of installed Active Script languages.
[3] Some software such as SecureCRT use the WSH functionality to allow automation by means of any installed scripting engine.
[8] However, that entire technology was deprecated in version 2.0 of the .NET Framework,[8] leaving no clear upgrade path for applications desiring Active Scripting support (although "scripts" can be created in C#, VBScript, Visual Basic .NET, and other .NET languages, which can be compiled and executed at run-time via libraries installed as part of the standard .NET runtime).