Once upon a time, we classified programs as either applications or utilities. For a long time, it was easy to distinguish them from each other: an application (e.g., Word) made it possible for you to do something. A utility (e.g., Defragger) did something for you. You couldn't create anything with a utility. You couldn't get an application to do anything unless you interacted with it.
That distinction became blurred before long, but those of us who remember it probably still think of a calculator as a utility, but Power Shell as an application.
First of all, let me throw in that I'm not directing this at
you, or at
any one person, but replying to the whole concept of app vs application vs program.
The reason the lines became blurred because of the fact that utilities started giving us aspects of applications, while applications started giving us aspects of utilities. When the distinction between the two became too narrow, it was easier to lump them together into one catch phrase. If I had my way we'd still call all of the features of an OS that the user made use of regularly an application, and the stuff that they almost never use (but that advanced / power users tend to use more) utilities. Windows 11 refers to the 'utilities' built in to the OS now as "Windows Tools" to differentiate them (somewhat) from regular applications that the user will use more often.
And let's be clear, I didn't respond earlier because I didn't want to start an argument - but the saying a program to solve differential equations is not an application shows that different people have different definitions, and no matter what you say they are subjective, not written in stone. Because a program that solves differential equations, for example, can be used by a person
to solve a differential equation, but on the flip side, it can just as easily be argued that it (the program)
is doing it for you - at the heart of which is what the function of every single program is. Even if you write a simple, one line "Hello, World!" program,
you're using the program to display output in the manner of your choosing - but at the same time,
the program is doing something for you, displaying said output.
In the interest of not perpetuating that argument anymore than it already has, it's just easier to refer to
programs that any given user has access to as an application - which I would have thought was pretty self-evident when I said
all programs. But apparently not. And yet it spawned this discussion. Talk to an average user who doesn't know a thing about how programs are written, and just wants to accomplish a task, or multiple tasks, and you'll find a user who doesn't care about any of the other intricacies of software development - as long as it works for them. Similarly, referring to applications as programs and programs as application means absolutely nothing to them - they are one and the same. And with humans' need to make things shorter, it's only natural that application --> app. It's easier to say, it's easier to understand, and this need to have the masses onboard with jargon they are willing to use is nothing new - it's been going on for millennia.
OH Gawd! How many years has it been since "we" formatted 5.25" floppy disks, or even 3.5" floppies for that matter???
Modern PC's don't even come with floppy drives. Heck, most laptops don't even come with DVD drives.
So "pity the fool" who can't format a Flash Drive!
I recently cleaned out my 'shop' and threw away several 5.25" floppy drives (my last) , and a whole stack of 3.5" drives. I don't even have a PC with a floppy drive port on the motherboard anymore.
I can't begin to tell y'all how many floppy disks I've thrown away, all except my Commodore 64 disks.
So why is anyone even talking about that anymore? Cheech! Don't we have more pressing matters to attend to?
Like why has MS gotten to exclusive that it's newest OS won't install on PC's that run everything else from DOS to Win-10?
All ten of mine do!
TM
Lol. I'm old enough to have done all that and then some myself. Some people don't like to change, or, more appropriately, learn something a certain way and assume that is the only correct way of doing things. Sometimes that is applicable - other times it is not. I think I still have some 5.25s around, I definitely have 3.5s around, I've posted them enough times in various DMG sites. But the average user doesn't want to have to think about those kinds of things. They just want stuff to work - and leave all the rest of enthusiasts / advanced / power users like most of us in here.
