Has anyone else noticed that suddenly, everyone calls programs, apps? I always understood that an app was a single, executeable file while programs were made up of several files. An example is that photoshop is not an app, its a program.
P O T T S wrote: Has anyone else noticed that suddenly, everyone calls programs, apps? I always understood that an app was a single, executeable file while programs were made up of several files. An example is that photoshop is not an app, its a program.
Nah - two terms are utterly interchangeable.
For many many years now all the apps you will have run have been made up of several files.
SillyEddy
Posts: 2,246
Coventry, England, United Kingdom
I usually associate "app" with 'lite' programs - Such as mobile device software or other times when the software is designed to be as small as possible.
Program is my mental name for 'large' software - The 'full beans' version. So Adobe CS5 on your desktop is the program, on your phone is the app.
SillyEddy wrote: I usually associate "app" with 'lite' programs - Such as mobile device software or other times when the software is designed to be as small as possible.
Program is my mental name for 'large' software - The 'full beans' version. So Adobe CS5 on your desktop is the program, on your phone is the app.
thats cute
but no, they are interchangeable
the main point has been to make everything computers to be cute and intuitive to tap into a broader audience, it has worked. people that weren't interested in computers now are addicted to mobile devices
SillyEddy
Posts: 2,246
Coventry, England, United Kingdom
R A V E N D R I V E wrote: thats cute
but no, they are interchangeable
Well after looking, the Oxford English Dictionary associates "app" with self contained programs, often in the context of use on mobile devices.
Program is of course the actual instructions.
So the app contains the program, but it seems to say that it's the way in which it contains the program which is important. I've noticed that phone apps will generally be the stand-alone files which may produce a data log, but not always. And desktop programs will often fragment the data across the computer.
SillyEddy wrote: Well after looking, the Oxford English Dictionary associates "app" with self contained programs, often in the context of use on mobile devices.
Program is of course the actual instructions.
So the app contains the program, but it seems to say that it's the way in which it contains the program which is important. I've noticed that phone apps will generally be the stand-alone files which may produce a data log, but not always. And desktop programs will often fragment the data across the computer.
OSX "applications" and iOS "apps" both keep their programs as standalone files, in reality they are archives that can be extracted to reveal all the fragmented files within them
they both store data outside of these archives whether you notice it or not
android has a similar approach but can cache files to other places in storage
Well after looking, the Oxford English Dictionary associates "app" with self contained programs, often in the context of use on mobile devices.
Program is of course the actual instructions.
So the app contains the program, but it seems to say that it's the way in which it contains the program which is important. I've noticed that phone apps will generally be the stand-alone files which may produce a data log, but not always. And desktop programs will often fragment the data across the computer.
If they weren't before, they are interchangeable now. An app, at least on the Mac is a full application or "program". They have the app store built into the operating system now, where they sell "apps" like Adobe Photoshop, etc. Full versions, not mobile. So, if it was different before, times have changed.
P O T T S wrote: Has anyone else noticed that suddenly, everyone calls programs, apps? I always understood that an app was a single, executeable file while programs were made up of several files. An example is that photoshop is not an app, its a program.
I have always understood that App was short for Application and that all the programs that run on computers are Applications, but I will never call a program that I run on my computer an App. Never!
When I'm old and people wear their devices on their heads with an interface directly into their brain, I will be the guy who still has a rotary dial telephone.
Designit - Edward Olson wrote: I have always understood that App was short for Application and that all the programs that run on computers are Applications, but I will never call a program that I run on my computer an App. Never!
Not all programs that run on computers are applications. A program is a set of code that performs one or more functions. An application is a program that performs some human-oriented task, possibly/usually with heavy human interaction. An operating system is a program, but not an application; it's more an operating environment and set of system utilities. Word, Photoshop, accounting software and Solitaire are most definitely applications, regardless of the degrees of massiveness and modularity of the software.
Designit - Edward Olson wrote: I have always understood that App was short for Application and that all the programs that run on computers are Applications, but I will never call a program that I run on my computer an App. Never!
Orca Bay Images wrote: Not all programs that run on computers are applications. A program is a set of code that performs one or more functions. An application is a program that performs some human-oriented task, possibly/usually with heavy human interaction. An operating system is a program, but not an application; it's more an operating environment and set of system utilities. Word, Photoshop, accounting software and Solitaire are most definitely applications, regardless of the degrees of massiveness and modularity of the software.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Another thing I will never do is call an Operating System a program.
I would also like to point out that this is nothing a programmer or developer ever debates, even with clients.
Maybe somebody studying IT at a bullshit technical institute with false hopes of getting an accredited associates degree MIGHT debate these things, but it really has no basis on anything
What? The prevalence of the term App has nothing to do with Apple? Apple's subliminal marketing strategy? Windows was dominating the software market until Apple took over the hardware market (popularity-wise), at which they started selling "apps" for their own devices. It's short for "application" but it also looks like the word "apple". Hook, line, sinker.
291
Posts: 11,911
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, California, US
an app-lication is a means to execute program(s) in part or whole.
starbucks has an application to find the nearest store. to do so it is not the application that finds it, but a means to execute a mapping program that works in tandem with your location.
it has nothing to do with "apple." it was a term used long before the marketing of their app store.
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