I'm currently exploring the possibility of adding scripting capabilities to one of my applications. This would be a facility where the application user or myself will be able to write scripting code. The script would then be executed in order to alter and/or enhance some part of the hard-coded flow of the application, which is server-based. The application users are fairly competent but are geared towards administration and operations, not serious coding. The goal is to have a way to make quick customizations when the application configuration won't do the job.

The scripting language itself needs to be well-known and not obscure (not home-grown). Dynamic compilation of .Net code is out because I don't want to load additional assemblies in memory. The scripting facility should not shell out to an interpreter - in other words, it should be something that can be hosted inside the application itself. I need basic language constructs (assignments, primitive types, comparisons, if-then, case and loop statements, exception handling, function definition and calling) and some limited but essential database access capabilities. Strong typing is not a requirement.

I'd be interested in hearing from people that may have traveled this road before. What were your requirements? What choices did you consider, what did you choose and why? Most importantly, was the effort worth it?