Then: Books, Movies, Videos, Blogs, Articles Now: C O N T E N T
Man, I hate the word content.
I’m content with it
Product is a word I hate.
I have a warehouse full of product.
I mean unless you’re a drug smuggler… Then that’s fine. But using it for random lawn mower parts is dumb I think.
Haha thank you for that.
Me too. Ever since I read Richard Stallman’s words to avoid article. I kinda wish I hadn’t read it now lmao.
I’ll definitely read it start to end when I have the time later, for now this is my favourite part of the article (Of the parts I skimmed through):
“Bullshit generators” is a suitable term for large language models (“LLMs”) such as ChatGPT, that generate smooth-sounding verbiage that appears to assert things about the world, without understanding that verbiage semantically.
Man, what a nice read
It’s not the word, it’s the reductionism.
We used to call all those media except people naturally didn’t want to lump them all together.
Then: Fire, Rocks
I call everything a script. Makes the Java devs real mad. Makes the PM’s super confused.
I fought hard against that for years. I still only use ‘app’ for phone programs, but I stopped correcting people every time they used the term for anything else. It isn’t technically wrong, but it grates on my nerves for some reason.
If someone told me to use the fdisk app I’d be confused.
Use the ls app.
Then use the cd app.
Then use the cd app.
❯ which cd cd: shell built-in commandNot even technically correct, unless…
When I press ‘Reply’, I am using the Reply app
Ugh I don’t know why but this was the one that got me. Just no.
Windows is the first thing I can think of that used the word “application” in that way, I think even back before Windows could be considered an OS (and had a dependency on MS-DOS). Back then, the Windows API referred to the Application Programming Interface.
Here’s a Windows 3.1 programming guide from 1992 that freely refers to programs as applications:
Common dialog boxes make it easier for you to develop applications for the Microsoft Windows operating system. A common dialog box is a dialog box that an application displays by calling a single function rather than by creating a dialog box procedure and a resource file containing a dialog box template.
I don’t have a single problem with the word “application”
to develop applications for the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Could they have meat “uses for the MS…”?
Goddamn …. That is a thing of horrific beauty. I saved it immediately.
(I’m a technical writer so it should be fun to go through this ancient tome)
See also the client camera movement guide:
A Pan-o-rama
Interesting.
The word ‘pan’, came to me from using 3D CAD software and I considered the Jib and Truck actions as ‘pan’ and the original Pan would be camera rotation, which might be ‘turn’ (didn’t use it as much so don’t remember) which was less favourable than using ‘orbit’.
Good to know the word origin.Oh and btw, Dolly would not be zoom, but ‘walk’.
Client cameras love everyone!
Everything is a file
What about a process? File gone wild?
I’d call that a file loaded to memory
Most files are loaded to memory in order to make any kind of use out of them. I.e. read/write operations.
That’s true! I supposed it would be more precise to say that all processes are files loaded to memory, but not all files loaded to memory are processes. Sort of like the whole arachnids / spiders situation.
Why not? Represented in /proc? exec() and fam? Read and write to it?
I mean, with virtualization that’s pretty much true
What about a folder?
Pregonte file
Is that how babby formed
how to mkdir
If you can open it in Vim, it’s a file.
You can open me in Vim, Greg. Am I a file?
And now the kids don’t know what a file path is anymore. Legit my wife is a professor, and she gets adeer in the headlight look when she is helping students debug code and she mentions a file path not being right in there code.
Serious response, no joke… what’s a file path?
These are sophomores and Juniors in college.
These are sophomores and Juniors in college.
… Who grew up in a world where computer internals were abstracted away so you never needed to know what a file was or even that they exist. I wouldn’t know what a file was either if I didn’t grow up in exactly the right time frame and have a dad who hoarded DOS PCs.
Oh no, I get why they don’t know what one is. It just makes teaching coding to them very difficult.
I lucked out having a dad who’s into computers so I had the chance to tinker with his old stuff since I was a little bwoah.
Yikes. Blame iPhone (and Android) hiding file structure in most every app
the blank stares you get when mentioning the word “directory”
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What I hate even more, is that the morons who can’t read more than two syllables decided to shorten “application” to “app”, but now I only ever hear people reading that as “ay pee pee”! What was the fucking point?
I’ve literally never heard anyone call it A.P.P. (and I mean that literally literally, not figuratively literally)
Is this a specific cultural thing? A generational thing? Geography based slang? Why would anyone do this.
It’s an idiot thing is what it is
I might be biased from speaking with so many Chinese people. Who I can forgive not knowing the origin of the abbreviation. Still pisses me off to no end D:<
I mean, I’m pretty sure this is extremely widespread in China, so I’d say it’s more cultural than anything else. In fact, since there are so many Chinese, that probably means more people call it A.P.P. than app. But I honestly have no clue, and it doesn’t matter to me either way. Words change. It’s nothing to get bent out of shape about.
On the flipside, “Bot” is the backend for almost everything that I’ve dealt with recently.
“We need the data moved from X to Y, can someone make a bot for that?”
Internal suffering
“… Yes. We can setup an API between X and Y.”
“Great! We also want a bot to generate daily reports from Y”
Suffering intensifies
“… Ok.”
I don’t even try to fight it anymore.
Um excuse me the preferred term is “AI agent” if you want outside investment
In similar cases I’ve passive-aggressively intentionally misunderstood and/or acted confused. E.g. “Yes, we can set ut up an API between X and Y, but what exactly do you want the bot to do?” Then let them elaborate until it’s clear they’re not asking for a bot.
I had a (non-technical) manager come to me one day and say he wanted us to start using this hot new technology he had just read about called an API. This was in 2010. He showed me the article, which somehow never even attempted to explain what an API actually was. I just laughed and said I would make it an action item.
APIs have been around since like the 90s, right?
The term dates to 1974 (1968 if you accept “Application Program Interface”). The concept is decades older than that. My boss was just a fucking moron.
Yes but imo patch is now update
Patch is now Paid DLC
The other day I realized they did that because its APPle. I have no evidence but I’m sticking with it
I think I heard “applet” being mentioned for embedded java or something in the early 2000s. I don’t know if that’s connected.
Apple didn’t invent the word “app,” but I do think they pushed it because it was adjacent to the company’s name.
I thought applet came first. Then “web apps” - but i think that’s a windows perspective.
This claims they came from NEXT which apple bought in the 90s. https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/when-did-programs-become-apps.136416/
The thread also refers to bitmap image files as bumps which I’d still do if I ever saw a bump again. So the thread is legitimate.
I’ve been coding since the '80s. I’ve never once heard anyone refer to a bitmap as a “bump”.
The name of the company is all you need as evidence.
In the Netherlands basically everyone uses whatsapp. In the beginning people would say send me a whatsapp or something like that. But pretty quickly people started to shorten it to just app. So people will say stuff like I just got an app (instead of message), it drives me nuts. Like my family chat group is called “app group”.
Are you sure it’s not appje?
Yes but I felt adding the “je” part would make it more confusing for non Dutch readers.
The script is compiled to a program which is then executed by the OS.
->
The app is appified to an app which is then apped by the app.
Damnit.
Why use many word?
Web browser? “app”. Web page? “app”. Dialog box? “app”. Phone app that’s just a thin shell for the web site? “appapp”.
Appetizer at Applebee’s? “app”
This one probably drives me the most crazy.
I felt like I was alone in being frustrated at this trend. However I found a bit of relief to discover, through messing around in a Win98 virtual machine, that they were occasionally using the term “app” back then as well. Of course it wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is now, but whatever.
Also I thought I’d never see the Xbox kid meme again. What an unexpected throwback!
