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Please stop calling them apps!



 
 
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  #31  
Old May 16th 19, 04:04 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Commander Kinsey
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Posts: 1,279
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On Thu, 16 May 2019 15:17:05 +0100, Peter Percival wrote:

Apd wrote:
"Commander Kinsey" wrote:
I don't go into my gar to mow the lawn, so why would I use an app on
my computer? Why are people too ****ing lazy to use the whole word
anymore? If "application" is too difficult, what about "program"?


When I started programming in the 70s we wrote computer programs. I
don't remember when or why "application" became popular. It sounds
like a poultice you apply to an infected wound. So, yes, I prefer
"program".


In my day there were (at least) two varieties of program: systems
programs such as compilers and what-have-you, and applications programs
such as accounting software.


I don't mind "application", but using only the first syllable is ridiculous.

Imagine if we only used the first syllable in everything:

Good morn, nice weth we have to. I'm go to do some gar. I start by weed the flow beds.
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  #32  
Old May 16th 19, 04:04 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Commander Kinsey
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Posts: 1,279
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On Thu, 16 May 2019 14:30:01 +0100, slate_leeper wrote:

On Wed, 15 May 2019 20:14:30 +0100, "Commander Kinsey"
wrote:

I don't go into my gar to mow the lawn, so why would I use an app on my computer? Why are people too ****ing lazy to use the whole word anymore? If "application" is too difficult, what about "program"?



We used to call those who wrote programs "programmers." What do we
call those who write apps, "applicators?"


Geeks, four eyes?
  #33  
Old May 16th 19, 04:52 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Carlos E. R.[_2_]
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Posts: 219
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On 16/05/2019 08.01, Eric Stevens wrote:
On Thu, 16 May 2019 00:30:35 +0100, "Commander Kinsey"
wrote:

On Thu, 16 May 2019 00:06:47 +0100, Apd wrote:




I also laugh at "execute" the program. It sounds like you want it killed. And an "executive" in a business should be the one that chops off people's heads when they misbehave.


"executing" a program dates back to before you were born and has a
very good reason for it's usage. In those early days one loaded a
program into the computer and it sat there, fat and happy, doing
absolutely nothing. Then when you had the courage to try it, you
issued the command "execute", whereupon it leaped into life (or death)
and did whatever you had actually asked it to do (not necassarily what
you had though you had asked it to do).

The term has a naval background. In the days of ail the officer in
charge of the deck would issue a command e.g. 'Prepare to luff", where
upon members of the crew would leap to various ropes, lines, sheets
and haliards, getting ready to do whatever had to be done. At the
appropriate moment (maybe in the midst of a close tacking duel) the
officer would issue the command 'Execute!' whereupon sheaves would
whir, ropes would run, and yards and booms would swing round to their
new position.

If you go to the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary you will find
the word 'execute' has various threads of meaning all dataing from
Middle English and having something to do with the performance of
something or other.


Thanks for the explanation, curious for me as English is not my first
language. Now I'd like to find out if Spanish uses "ejecutar" as a
direct translation from English or it has a related meaning. :-D

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.
  #34  
Old May 16th 19, 04:55 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Carlos E. R.[_2_]
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Posts: 219
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On 16/05/2019 14.57, Keith Nuttle wrote:
On 5/16/2019 8:45 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:



No, we had directories, typically one per suite or big program. Like one
for MsDOS, another for wordperfect, another for pctools, etc.

I believe that is where the command DIR came from which list the files
in the Directory.Â* MS changed to directories to folders for no apparent
reason


And in Spanish to "carpetas", similar thing. I think it started as an
attempt to simplify explanations to non technical people. At least I saw
it first on some manual.


--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.
  #35  
Old May 16th 19, 05:09 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Peter Johnson[_2_]
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Default Please stop calling them apps!

On Wed, 15 May 2019 20:14:30 +0100, "Commander Kinsey"
wrote:

I don't go into my gar to mow the lawn, so why would I use an app on my computer? Why are people too ****ing lazy to use the whole word anymore? If "application" is too difficult, what about "program"?

I haven't read all the replies to see if anyone else thinks the same
but I think you can think Steve Jobs for unleashing the word 'Apps' on
the world. (FWIW I agree with you.)
  #36  
Old May 16th 19, 05:24 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Commander Kinsey
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Posts: 1,279
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On Thu, 16 May 2019 17:09:16 +0100, Peter Johnson wrote:

On Wed, 15 May 2019 20:14:30 +0100, "Commander Kinsey"
wrote:

I don't go into my gar to mow the lawn, so why would I use an app on my computer? Why are people too ****ing lazy to use the whole word anymore? If "application" is too difficult, what about "program"?

I haven't read all the replies to see if anyone else thinks the same
but I think you can think Steve Jobs for unleashing the word 'Apps' on
the world. (FWIW I agree with you.)


It doesn't surprise me Apple has something to do with it. They've ****ed computing up for decades.
  #37  
Old May 16th 19, 05:39 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
nospam
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Default Please stop calling them apps!

In article , Peter Johnson
wrote:

I haven't read all the replies to see if anyone else thinks the same
but I think you can think Steve Jobs for unleashing the word 'Apps' on
the world. (FWIW I agree with you.)


false.

both the term application and its shortened version app existed long
before apple.
  #38  
Old May 16th 19, 05:42 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Carlos E. R.[_2_]
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Posts: 219
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On 16/05/2019 18.39, nospam wrote:
In article , Peter Johnson
wrote:

I haven't read all the replies to see if anyone else thinks the same
but I think you can think Steve Jobs for unleashing the word 'Apps' on
the world. (FWIW I agree with you.)


false.

both the term application and its shortened version app existed long
before apple.


I never heard it before smartphones. I don't have any apple, so I don't
know if it was used there.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.
  #39  
Old May 16th 19, 05:57 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Mark Lloyd[_2_]
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Posts: 1,756
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On 5/15/19 6:06 PM, Apd wrote:

[snip]

When I started programming in the 70s we wrote computer programs. I
don't remember when or why "application" became popular. It sounds
like a poultice you apply to an infected wound. So, yes, I prefer
"program".


I like "program" too. I think of "app" as something you don't actually
have (someone else in in control, of both the code and "your" data).

Also, directories are directories NOT "folders". A folder is a crude
cardboard container for papers, that has to be handled carefully of else
you get an unsorted mess on the floor.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Freedom begins between the ears."
  #40  
Old May 16th 19, 06:04 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Mark Lloyd[_2_]
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Posts: 1,756
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On 5/15/19 6:30 PM, Commander Kinsey wrote:

[snip]

I also laugh at "execute" the program.* It sounds like you want it
killed.* And an "executive" in a business should be the one that chops
off people's heads when they misbehave.


I must of thought that once. I remember looking as some source code and
one of the error messages was "not enough memory to execute child".

It's a mistake, "Execute" means something like "do", not "kill".

BTW, as to chopping off people's heads, it's the death sentence not the
prisoner that's executed. Meaning gets distorted (maybe more so when few
people can read).

"Abort" is another word where the meaning gets mixed up. I remember
hearing about a student using a computer. She got upset when she made a
mistake and the computer message was something like "System responding
too slowly, Do you want to about?".

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Freedom begins between the ears."
  #41  
Old May 16th 19, 06:05 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Mark Lloyd[_2_]
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Posts: 1,756
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On 5/15/19 7:33 PM, nospam wrote:

[snip]

i run proggies on my lappie.


much better than apps on the iPhone.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Freedom begins between the ears."
  #42  
Old May 16th 19, 06:08 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Mark Lloyd[_2_]
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Posts: 1,756
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On 5/15/19 7:33 PM, nospam wrote:

[snip]

the rest of the world prefers app.


I think of an "app" as something you never had control of (not even
control of that installation), and using it is like having a part of
your brain in someone else's server room.

a program is what's shown on tv, or what's handed out at the theatre.


Those are programs too.

languages evolve.



--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Freedom begins between the ears."
  #43  
Old May 16th 19, 06:10 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Commander Kinsey
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Posts: 1,279
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On Thu, 16 May 2019 18:04:27 +0100, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 5/15/19 6:30 PM, Commander Kinsey wrote:

[snip]

I also laugh at "execute" the program. It sounds like you want it
killed. And an "executive" in a business should be the one that chops
off people's heads when they misbehave.


I must of thought that once. I remember looking as some source code and
one of the error messages was "not enough memory to execute child".


Probably a programmer with a sense of humour.

It's a mistake, "Execute" means something like "do", not "kill".

BTW, as to chopping off people's heads, it's the death sentence not the
prisoner that's executed. Meaning gets distorted (maybe more so when few
people can read).


Surely you say "Mr Smith was executed" - meaning that he was killed. The execution is the killing.

"Abort" is another word where the meaning gets mixed up. I remember
hearing about a student using a computer. She got upset when she made a
mistake and the computer message was something like "System responding
too slowly, Do you want to about?".


Abort always means stop or give up. How could she be upset? Or was she pregnant at the time?
  #44  
Old May 16th 19, 06:14 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Mark Lloyd[_2_]
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Posts: 1,756
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On 5/16/19 7:57 AM, Keith Nuttle wrote:

[snip]

I believe that is where the command DIR came from which list the files
in the Directory.Â* MS changed to directories to folders for no apparent
reason


That sort of thing often felt as if they're trying to penalize you for
knowing something about computers.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Freedom begins between the ears."
  #45  
Old May 16th 19, 06:16 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.english.usage
Sam E[_2_]
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Posts: 248
Default Please stop calling them apps!

On 5/16/19 8:30 AM, slate_leeper wrote:
On Wed, 15 May 2019 20:14:30 +0100, "Commander Kinsey"
wrote:

I don't go into my gar to mow the lawn, so why would I use an app on my computer? Why are people too ****ing lazy to use the whole word anymore? If "application" is too difficult, what about "program"?



We used to call those who wrote programs "programmers." What do we
call those who write apps, "applicators?"

-dan z-


"Applicators" sounds like it could be those who use a lot of sunscreen.

--
"To be a Christian, you must "pluck out the eye of reason." [Martin
Luther]
 




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