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Software Terminology (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev
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[–] 61 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I fought hard against that for years. I still only use 'app' for phone programs, but I stopped correcting people every time they used the term for anything else. It isn't technically wrong, but it grates on my nerves for some reason.

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  • [–] 28 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    If someone told me to use the fdisk app I'd be confused.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Use the ls app.

    Then use the cd app.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Windows is the first thing I can think of that used the word "application" in that way, I think even back before Windows could be considered an OS (and had a dependency on MS-DOS). Back then, the Windows API referred to the Application Programming Interface.

    Here's a Windows 3.1 programming guide from 1992 that freely refers to programs as applications:

    Common dialog boxes make it easier for you to develop applications for the Microsoft Windows operating system. A common dialog box is a dialog box that an application displays by calling a single function rather than by creating a dialog box procedure and a resource file containing a dialog box template.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Language evolves. Why is a computer program not an “app(lication)” exactly?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    A lot of times, the literal definition varies from what people think of when they hear a thing. We call a lot of similar things words that don't fully make sense but since other people will know what it means, it's useful. When everything is an app, piles of specifics are glossed over. That probably doesn't matter when talking to a non-developer, but sometimes it might. Those of us in software like the specificity because it tells us many things we might otherwise have to ask several questions to learn about. So yeah, sometimes it matters, other times it won't.

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