It's important to remember that interpreting and compiling are not just alternatives to each other. In the end, any program that you write (including one compiled to machine code) gets interpreted. Interpreting code simply means taking a set of instructions and returning an answer.

Compiling, on the other hand, means converting a program in one language to another language. Usually it is assumed that when compilation takes place, the code is compiled to a "lower-level" language (eg. machine code, some kind of VM bytecode, etc.). This compiled code is still interpreted later on.

In regards to your question of whether there is a useful distinction between interpreted and compiled languages, my personal opinion is that everyone should have a basic understanding of what is happening to the code they write during interpretation. So, if there code is being JIT compiled, or bytecode-cached, etc., the programmer should at least have a basic understanding of what that means.

It's important to remember that interpreting and compiling are not just alternatives to each other. In the end, any program that you write (including one compiled to machine code) gets interpreted. Interpreting code simply means taking a set of instructions and returning an answer.

Compiling, on the other hand, means converting a program in one language to another language. Usually it is assumed that when compilation takes place, the code is compiled to a "lower-level" language (eg. machine code, some kind of VM bytecode, etc.). This compiled code is still interpreted later on.

With regards to your question of whether there is a useful distinction between interpreted and compiled languages, my personal opinion is that everyone should have a basic understanding of what is happening to the code they write during interpretation. So, if their code is being JIT compiled, or bytecode-cached, etc., the programmer should at least have a basic understanding of what that means.