Short for `application program', as opposed to a systems program.
Apps are what systems vendors are forever chasing developers to
create for their environments so they can sell more boxes. Hackers
tend not to think of the things they themselves run as apps; thus, in
hacker parlance the term excludes compilers, program editors, games,
and messaging systems, though a user would consider all those to be
apps. (Broadly, an app is often a self-contained environment for
performing some well-defined task such as `word processing'; hackers
tend to prefer more general-purpose tools.) See {killer app}; oppose
{tool}, {operating system}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {demo mode}{General Public Virus}{OS/2}{tool}]