Talking about apple rewriting the way the world works, when the hell did people stop calling programs programs and start calling them Apps?
When did programs become apps?
- Thread starter Data Holmes
- Start date
The term “application,” in the sense of a computer program for performing specific practical tasks (as opposed to an operating system or a utility), has been in use since the 1970s. It has no connection with the name Apple.
Or were you punning?
The spreadsheet application Visi-Calc, introduced in 1979, was the first so-called “killer app” that made the personal computer a practical tool instead of a novelty toy for geeks.
Or were you punning?
The spreadsheet application Visi-Calc, introduced in 1979, was the first so-called “killer app” that made the personal computer a practical tool instead of a novelty toy for geeks.
Doesn't seem all that new to me... but if you are wondering the history of why it is used today with regards to Apple's products, it goes back to the introduction of NEXTSTEP back in the late 1980s. In NEXTSTEP all applications had the .app extension on them, and they were generally stored in the following directories...
When Apple acquired NeXT in December of 1996, the .app extension came along... first in Rhapsody and later in Mac OS X.
But yeah, after a few years (or in my case, a few decades) of seeing .app at the end of all your applications, you sort of start calling them apps.
/NextApps
/LocalApps
~/Apps
Because of that, I had been calling applications apps since the early 1990s (when I first started using NeXT computers regularly). This (as an example) is what I see on my NeXT system./LocalApps
~/Apps
When Apple acquired NeXT in December of 1996, the .app extension came along... first in Rhapsody and later in Mac OS X.
But yeah, after a few years (or in my case, a few decades) of seeing .app at the end of all your applications, you sort of start calling them apps.
I don't see a problem with a program being called an app, it's just quicker than typing application. Being an iPhone user I do tend to separate "apps" out into a category of mobile programs. I wouldn't refer to Photoshop as an app, that's an application. I know I'm probably being swayed by marketing there. 
Makes sense. Much like how a lot of people tend to call bitmap images "bumps" because of the .bmp file extension.
Nope, I don't and never will call it a program an app. It is a program. Fuck buzzwords.
The word "program" puts the focus on how those things are made, the word "application" puts the focus on how those things are used. The paradigm has shifted, computers are no longer made for tech-savvy people, they're made for everybody, and the vocabulary is evolving along with it.
A
Amaris
Guest
It's not really a buzzword, though. It's been in use for decades.
Yes, a well understood definition that doesn't match how Apple is using it. Calling a little program on an iPhone an app is like calling a bicycle a bus.
I'm sure you know that the iPhone's iOS is a descendant from NEXTSTEP. Development of iPhone apps isn't all that different from the process used to develop NEXTSTEP apps two decades ago.
In fact, a friend of mine... who was the first developer of a third party app for NEXTSTEP and the first developer of a third party app for Mac OS X, also develops apps for the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad. The level of complexity of apps for iOS systems is mainly limited to what ever the developer's skill levels are. I know that today you can get a version of Pages (which was originally a NEXTSTEP app) for the iPad.
From simple to complex... essentially they are all the same.
A
Amaris
Guest
Indeed, they are essentially the same. To differentiate them is to delve into pedantry and bias. An app is merely an application, and as such, has a broad, sweeping definition when applied to end user software.
Has it? The term may have existed for a while, but it's only become widespread because of iPhones/iPods. This is why the average person is using the word now. I never heard a program called an app before Apple buzzworded it.
A
Amaris
Guest
I have. "App" is simply shorthand for "application". I've called them apps for the better part of 20 years. Most of the people I worked with during that time called them either applications/apps or programs. The word has been around a long time, and has been used during that time. The word is legit, and it's usage is legit. Apple may have helped make the word a little more popular, but that's hardly a reason to get angry at Apple. When you go to the grocery, do you stand and stare at the bin of apples? Cursing the company that made a fruit a popular buzzword?
It's a company name, and only used to refer to the company (and the fruit). In no way is that a buzzword. I quite happily drink my apple juice without ever thinking of a company. Now if people started calling all PCs Apples, then it would be analogous.
When people refer to apps on their iPhone as an app, no problem. Apple have chosen to call them that, so that's ok. But if someone called Photoshop an app, then I'd be annoyed, because at no point in the past have I ever heard a computer program called an app, so therefore it is a buzzword to me, whether the word has existed in some form prior to this point or not. My programs install into a Program Files folder, so programs they are to me. Application would also be acceptable, although not as common. But app? Not to me.
Okay... so you are upset because you were late (after the average person it would seem) to hearing the term in use. Fair enough.
But FYI... I was calling Photoshop an app before you even knew Photoshop existed.
I believe the term app was coined while GEM was being developed. The underlying and revolutionary idea of the app was programs which made use of reusable GUI components, provided by the operating system through GEM.
I don't know if Apple was the first to use GEM but it was used by the 16-bit computers by Atari beginning in 1985. Those computers also had ".app" executable program files.
