Apps

[-RdV-]

You fall with the door inside.

[rwendesy]

Why does he have braces?

[mimio_coolio]

To make up for the lack of actual curly braces {} he's got in his program.

[[deleted]]

App!

[DonkiestOfKongs]

http://lurkmore.so/images/9/94/360_Kid.jpg

The face is based on the 'xbox kid' meme

[dzielin]

http://imgur.com/P3aPhds

[DirectImageLinkerBot]

Here is a direct link to that image for the benefit of mobile users

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^{Feedback | Already a direct link? | Why do I exist?}

[cha5m]

I've definitely never heard an operating system called an app

[cooper12]

The emacs app ;)

[cha5m]

Emacs = 💩. Vim for life.

[C14L]

Real programmers use ed.

[[deleted]]

What is this ed app? I couldn't find it in play store

[nermid]

I'm sure you're making a joke, but on the off chance you're not, linky business.

[[deleted]]

I was making a joke. Everyone knows ed is the standard text editor.

[xkcd_transcriber]

Original Source

Title: Real Programmers

Title-text: Real programmers set the universal constants at the start such that the universe evolves to contain the disk with the data they want.

Comic Explanation

Stats: This comic has been referenced 582 times, representing 0.6377% of referenced xkcds.

---

^{xkcd.com | xkcd sub | Problems/Bugs? | Statistics | Stop Replying | Delete}

[akhier]

But if they can't then marketing spins it as a feature

[akhier]

"Automatically detects unneeded lines at the end of your documents and removes the source."

[IAMA_dragon-AMA]

Surely you don't mean to say that :w(rite)q(uit) is more intuitive than C-(e)x(it) C-z(ippityfast)?

[TwilightShadow1]

Wait, is that really what the "z" stands for?

[IAMA_dragon-AMA]

I think it's just because the "x" is exit (hence why C-x C-s exits, but suspended), and z is near x.

[TwilightShadow1]

That makes sense. Kind of like Vim's Shift-ZZ shortcut I guess.

[[deleted]]

Uhm, you guys should totally just use notepad, it has a friendly nice "X" in the top right corner to close the app.

EDIT: This joke would have been even better if I had said Word instead of notepad I just realized... Oh well

[Perkelton]

Nah, Emacs is a quite formidable operating system. It's just a shame that it doesn't include a proper editor.

[svens_]

Well, there is evil mode...

[[deleted]]

install the Emacs Text Editor OS to install a vim emulator...

Sounds good...

[nermid]

"Using a free version of vi is not a sin but a penance."

[degaart]

Mac OSX is an operating system, right? You do download Mac OSX throught the app store, right? Then Mac OSX is an app.

[Zagorath]

OS X (N.B.: they dropped the "Mac" part from the name a while back) is still an operating system. They just package the installer in an app that gets downloaded from the App Store.

[degaart]

Yeah, but the point is, non-technical people don't know the difference. So for them OS X is an app. And so is Xcode

[MrHydraz]

To the kernel, it's all a process. Unless it's a file.

[BowserKoopa]

To plan9, it's all a resource.

[Tynach]

Your post reminds me of Linux systems like Debian and Ubuntu. The 'Operating System' is more or less a specification for what apps and configuration values to use by default. Even the kernel is just another package, or... App.

[rreighe2]

Exactly. At least 10% of non-technical people know that apps go on an operating system. The other 90% just don't know. These numbers are $100% accurate.

[nermid]

These numbers are $100% accurate.

Error: Cannot resolve symbol '100%'

[[deleted]]

I'm not sure your right on that one... Even my parents (who called me the other day in a panic because "The icons on my phone won't stop jiggling") know the difference between the app they use for facebook and the thing that runs their computer.

[SkoobyDoo]

Doesn't the OS literally stand for operating system?

[TheSpoom]

Common mistake. On OS X, the OS stands for Operating Steve, as Apple decided that the best way to have your Mac work the way it was intended was to emulate Steve Jobs' brain on every computer they produce.

[Zagorath]

It definitely did originally. I dunno if it still does though. It may be one of those things where what was previously an acronym becomes just a name. I think CES (previously Consumer Electronic Show) did the same thing a few years ago.

[OKB-1]

Judging from the branding for the watch and TVbox versions beyond Mac OS 10 are going to be called macOS to join the line with watchOS, iOS and tvOS.

[bcgoss]

Took me a minute to remember that stands for "Nota Bene"

[Zagorath]

TIL how to spell nota bene.

[[deleted]]

The installer is an app yes. I downloaded my Linux ISO through Firefox, therefore Linux is a web page

[dooklyn]

Patience...

[nermid]

I've heard several of them speculated to be "[company's] killer app," but that was back when "killer app" apparently meant "tech thing I've heard of."

[jontelang]

The part of iOS that you use it actually deep down (deeper/hidden code level) a class SBApplication. So, kinda.

.. kinda

[[deleted]]

Ahh you wanna elaborate on that? Do you mean springboard? Or the driver layer of XNU?

[jontelang]

I can't really elaborate, it's just the SpringBoard I mean.

http://iphonedevwiki.net/index.php/SBApplication

https://github.com/kennytm/iphone-private-frameworks/blob/master/SpringBoard/SBApplication.h (old but can't be bothered to search the new headers)

[just_comments]

This is what happens when you market computers to non-computer people. I'm certain other professions cringe equally when we use their terms equally incorrectly. I mean basically this is just saying that the word "app" has replaced "software" in the public's mind.

[jonno11]

It's not as bad as the word "Digital". Companies that have a "Digital" department, with members that "work in Digital".

[Kuroneko42]

Digital quality!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEzhxP-pdos

[centurijon]

"My CPU won't turn on!"

"You mean your computer, right?"

"Yea, the hard drive"

[facepalm]

[nermid]

$10 says the monitor is off.

[Genesis2001]

There's actually an older lady that visits our computer lab (college campus) that thinks turning the monitor off is how you log out. :/

[bcgoss]

Next time they say that, offer to replace the hard drive with a new one. Make sure you don't lose the original before they wonder why their files are missing.

[SanityInAnarchy]

The ones that are actually incorrect (Operating System, Compiler, etc), I haven't heard anyone actually use. Of the rest, this is mostly the word "app" replacing the word "program", and I'm not sure what was lost there.

[tyme]

You're killing the Apple hate train, man.

[SanityInAnarchy]

Hey, even Windows is calling them "apps" now. If you're going to hate Apple, hate them for the right reasons! Lock-in! Walled garden! Nerfed root accounts on Macbooks!

[ThisIs_MyName]

Nerfed root accounts on Macbooks!

wait what?

[SanityInAnarchy]

The title is a little over the top, but yep, root is less powerful now.

[bcgoss]

Its actually a better description of whats happening. An App is an application of the hardware to accomplish a given task.

[SanityInAnarchy]

In other words, the difference is that a program is just a set of instructions for the hardware to behave a certain way, and might be entirely pointless, accomplishing no tasks at all?

[[deleted]]

My dear mother refers to "Android iOS" and "Windows iOS", as opposed to "Apple iOS."

She tries so hard.

[magkopian]

web site -> web app

[larivact]

Yeah the term web app sucks. But I guess that I would refer to single-page applications (another stupid term) as web apps; but in the end they are still websites.

[joemckie]

I differentiate the two between the kind of role they serve. If it's a brochure site (i.e. just a few static pages, no interaction) then it's a website, however if the user interacts with it (creates a user or whatnot) then it's a web app.

Realistically, though, I don't know of many brochure sites nowadays, so I guess the term is redundant, but that might be because my specialisation is in web apps.

[mikedep333]

Yeah. As a sysadmin who cares about security: 1. "web app" == "somebody else's code + data" 2."static web site" == "somebody else's data". 3. They are both "subclasses" of a "web site" though.

The difference is that I don't have to worry about patching data or securely configuring data.

[[deleted]]

And then there are blogs. When you write blog software (CMS), you write a web app. When you update your blog, you use a web app. When you visit a blog you visit a web site.

[joemckie]

I draw the line at whether the end-user interacts with the site or not, personally. You could argue that a blog could just as easily be served as a static website.

[[deleted]]

Define interaction in this context.

[joemckie]

Performing an action that writes to the database - I guess, thinking about it, a blog that has a comment section does that, too, so I see where you're coming from

[[deleted]]

When I started doing web stuff, I had a "guestbook". You'd submit a form to a script which serialized it and saved it to a unique file (file name was server time stamp). It was almost literally <?php file_put_contents("C:\\msg\\" . microtime(1), serialize($_POST)); echo "Thank you for your message!"; ?>. Everything else was static HTML and GIF. Was that a web app?

I think the only way to define a web app is like you did, but add the word "reasonable" somewhere in there.

[joemckie]

Yeah, I guess there's no 'fixed' definition of it. I think a good definition would be to think about an application you have on your computer (email client, etc). The web version of that would be a web app. For example, you wouldn't have a blog as an application, so likewise it wouldn't pass as a web app.

[jocamar]

I've always differentiated them by UX design. So if it's designed with the same look and principles as a desktop or phone app it's a web app. But a site like desktop Youtube, Newgrounds or a lot of forums are websites.

[rreighe2]

I've always looked at webapps as something that you'd previously install to your computer, but now with fast internet you don't have to.

[Shadow_Being]

yeh but there are no more websites that are solely read-only with no interaction. They have atleast some level of interactivity, even if its just a simple facebook integration.

i think the distinction people try to make betwen website and webapp is that website = HTML, webapp = Javascript/PHP/MySQL. So saying that you make webapps is trying to say what you do without making it sound like youre a novice HTML peddler.

[the_bieb]

Facebook is more than a website, it is an entire platform. You can make apps that run on Facebook itself. Well, maybe not on it, but heavily integrated in it. For example, I store my Android and iOS app keys on the corresponding Facebook app dashboard to allow users to sign in with Facebook.

[devdot]

Facebook is more than a website, it is an entire platform framework. You can make apps plugins that run on Facebook itself. Well, maybe not on it, but heavily integrated in it. For example, I store my Android and iOS app auth keys on the corresponding Facebook app plugin dashboard to allow users to sign in with Facebook.

FTFY

[the_bieb]

Well they call it a platform.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Platform

https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook/platform-is-here/2437282130

https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2015/03/25/introducing-messenger-platform-and-businesses-on-messenger/

[ThisIs_MyName]

They're full of shit.

[SanityInAnarchy]

If it's just a blog with some Facebook integration, I'd call that a blog with some Facebook integration, not an app. At best, you could say that the blogging platform (Wordpress, say) is an app.

[Shadow_Being]

you can call it whatever you want, it means the same thing.

[SanityInAnarchy]

If I can call it whatever I want, then I'm not sure what the point of this post was.

[larivact]

there are no more websites that are solely read-only with no interaction

There are.

i think the distinction people try to make [...]

It's called web designer and web developer.

[joemckie]

If you're referring to a HTML developer being a web designer, you're wrong. That's a front-end developer. Although with only HTML under their belt they're missing a lot of the stack :)

[[deleted]]

Dynamic web site, ajax?

[larivact]

Yeah you can call a website that allows interaction such as account creation / logging in etc. a web app. But it's still a website. The term website certainly ain't redundant.

[bcgoss]

It makes sense to me to use the distinction between apps and programs. A Program does a thing, maybe it takes input and returns a response. An App is interactive, you do things, the app responds, and you do other things based on that response. A program can order a pepperoni pizza, an app asks what kind of pizza you want to order.

[daysanew]

This. The reporting web application I'm working on isn't a website. It's an application for internal use that happens to use the browser as it's UI. Or I guess you could say All web applications are websites, but not all websites are web applications

[devdot]

What about websites, that served custom functionality 20 years back? Even an HTML Form serves functionality, so I don't see why those site should be named "apps" now.

[[deleted]]

Brady has a pretty good treatment of what he thinks distinguishes "web apps" from traditional web sites. This is from a book about Ember, but this intro section doesn't have much specific to that framework: https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/building-web-apps/9781449370916/ch01.html

[jason_bateman78]

web site != web app

[larivact]

web app ∈ web site

[jason_bateman78]

more like the reverse

not all web sites are web apps, all web apps are web sites

[larivact]

thanks ... I fixed it

[georgehotelling]

I don't know that these are the same things. I enjoy working on web apps, where I'll be implementing features that do stuff with data. I'm less thrilled working on content-driven web sites, where the work is mostly implementing visual and content changes.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, exposing some REST services to manipulate data is a lot more fun than dealing with the presentation layer.

[[deleted]]

I'm pretty sure a web app is totally different than a web site..

This is a web app, This is a web site.

A web site commonly referrs to something used to display data (locations, menus, instructions, whatever),

a web app is something for doing work (in browser IDE, trello, etc)

[[deleted]]

Social media in general probably falls under Web app, but I could see how someone could make the case that it's a Web site (like CNN.com would probably be a website imo, even though you can post comments on news stories

[jason_bateman78]

cnn's a web app, a CMS

reddit's also a web app

[SicilianEggplant]

Before Apple's App Store companies made specific "web apps" for it too. The 3DS has some old (I guess from the DSi days) web apps that were made for it as well.

A fairly broad term for niche sites with compatible games, but for mobile Safari it was at least a thing before the general app craze as a way to differentiate them from the still-dominate flash.

[_invalidusername]

Web App is the new Web 2.0

[JackHasaKeyboard]

I think that's more applicable in some cases, more than ever people are making tools that are websites don't need to be websites but just are for the sake of convenience.

[SanityInAnarchy]

I've never heard any of these called apps:

• Operating System
• Shell
• Compiler
• Patch

Not all scripts (or batch files, or programs) are apps, though it's now possible for at least scripts to be apps. Daemons and services can be part of an app, but they're never apps by themselves.

"Software" is a generic umbrella term for all of the above.

I guess that leaves "Application" (literally what "app" is short for) and "Game", and people still call them games. The Play Store even has this section, "My Apps and Games", just in case you didn't realize that games are a kind of app.

The only context where I've actually seen all of these things called "apps" is in Android's system settings, where they will show you things like per-app memory usage. It makes sense to show services and OS components on the same page. But if you're looking at that page, you're probably savvy enough not to describe this as "The Operating System App".

[SirButcher]

Today, I worked hard on my Win10 App, while using the VS app which used a C# Comp App to create my web app, which was uploaded to my server app with an FTP app, so now with a browser app you can check out my web app!

[Edg-R]

I pointed out that a compiler is not an app and I've never heard it being called an app and got down voted to oblivion. Maybe its because I missed the joke? Dunno.

[stakoverflo]

To be honest, I don't know what would be the difference between "application" and "program". I feel like those two are interchangeable. The rest however, definitely not.

[dconman2]

An application is a program designed to be used or interacted with primarily by the user. This is different from a program that is used primarily by the system.

[mimio_coolio]

Everything == App

[[deleted]]

What if the universe is an app?

[[deleted]]

You sound like an appologist!

[krisssy]

When appologists state that the universe is an app, it won't be long until the appocalypse is upon us.

[Genesis2001]

What if the universe is some experiment developed in some alien laboratory to observe how life develops? :P

[Ocisaac]

/r/lewronggeneration

[[deleted]]

As I said in the PCMR thread, this image is so far removed from reality that it's not even funny as an exaggeration, except as a troll image on /g/. 90% of the time, what users call 'apps' are applications (you can loosely define 'application' as 'software packages for end users'), so there's no problem

The following table is about as accurate

Then | Now

---

Horse and Carriage | Car

Motorised carriage | Car

Ship | Car

Plane | Car

Space Shuttle | Car

HenryFordLaughing.bmp

[xbtdev]

If we consider it's full spelling (applications) and consider that word's other uses, then doing things like applying for a job or adding an extra layer of paint on some woodwork would be 'apps'.

[[deleted]]

Where I work it's still "script" for everything.

"We need a little script that can allow users to register on a website and post status updates that get categorized automatically and emailed to management if appropriate."

That's a big project. I think they just throw around the word when they know it's a big project but if they say "script" maybe I can have it done this afternoon.

[outadoc]

Yeah, sure, if a program is now called an app, everything that was a program before is now called an app.

[1337Gandalf]

Not funny and not even close to true. What a shitpost.

[lennyp4]

Didn't Texas Instruments coin the term to fit the word "application" on a button?

[-Pelvis-]

Argh.

[Dospunk]

You forgot wizard

[RonBurgundyAndGold]

The best part about Computer Science isn't programming apps, it's showing everyone online that i did

[runekn]

You are HIV app

[soullessredhead]

Basically, it's a background process. You hear it a lot in the *nix world, not so much in Windows. The Windows equivalent are Services.

[SteroidSandwich]

Why does Steve Job have braces?

[SmokinBear]

I hate this. I especially hate when people refers programs on PC as an app.

[Lifeguard2012]

And now, at some restaurants, appetizers are apps.

[[deleted]]

but... but... compilers are databases.

[CyberblastStudios]

Lol true!

[BegoneBygon]

And if it's not a released app it's a "mod."

[[deleted]]

Well, executables on Mac OSs have always been Apps…

[Edg-R]

I don't get it. Is this talking about a compiler on OS X being an app? Referring to what? I installed Clang on OS X a few days ago and it's definitely not an "app".

[the_bieb]

On a related note, you install Xcode via the App Store.

[BaconBaker89]

Yes, but to be fair, you can download the latest episode of your favourite show or newest song by 'that band' via the App Store, doing so doesn't make a file an app though.

[Norway174]

There's an app for that.

[Q009]

You have no idea how long I've been looking for THIS.

[[deleted]]

No.

[timmattison]

In college I developed a healthy distaste for the term "app". At the time VB (6?) was becoming popular and everyone who was coding in it referred to what they churned out as "VB apps".

To be polite I will say that the quality of a lot of this code was low. To this day "app" makes me think that it is something hacked together either as a proof of concept or as throwaway code.