Why do you need ./ (dot-slash) before executable or script name to run it in bash?

Question

When running scripts in bash, I have to write ./ in the beginning:

$ ./manage.py syncdb

If I don\'t, I get an error message:

Answer 1

Your script, when in your home directory will not be found when the shell looks at the $PATH environment variable to find your script.

The ./ says 'look in the current directory for my script rather than looking at all the directories specified in $PATH'.