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What is the difference between a program & an application?

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nosh:
A program = a set of instructions, an application = the end result

which fits in somewhat with mouser's explanation, which is more realistic/practical.


In general, x determines whether a software is an application or a program

if (lines of code * programmer's ego) > x
software = application
else
software = program.

cranioscopical:
My my, the state of education today  :(

A program is something that comes on the television and an application is what you make when asking for a loan.

Eóin:
Of course a program not considered big enough to qualify as an application could be just called an app :harhar:

40hz:
None. It's just marketing.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but if I recall correctly, it was primarily Apple that first started referring to what Macintosh computers ran as "Applications."

Mainframes, minicomputers, and PC's ran programs. Macintoshes ran applications.

Up until then, people just used the term "program" for everything. But that was before they knew any better. ;) ;D

ewemoa:
FWIW, there's a Wikipedia article that contains a couple of off-line references:

  https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Application_software

May be those have some information regarding the history of the term (I didn't notice anything within the article during a quick scan of it)...

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