application program

programming, operating system (Or "application", "app") A

complete, self-contained program that performs a specific

function directly for the user. This is in contrast to system

software such as the operating system kernel, server

processes and libraries which exists to support application

programs.

Editors for various kinds of documents, spreadsheets, and

text formatters are common examples of applications. Network

applications include clients such as those for FTP,

electronic mail, telnet and WWW.

The term is used fairly loosely, for instance, some might say

that a client and server together form a distributed

application, others might argue that editors and compilers

were not applications but tools for building applications.

One distinction between an application program and the

operating system is that applications always run in "user

mode" (or "non-privileged mode"), while operating systems and

related utilities may run in "supervisor mode" (or "privileged

mode").

The term may also be used to distinguish programs which

communicate via a graphical user interface from those which

are executed from the command line.

(1994-11-28)