technical

I had a conversation with my mom earlier. In the course of the conversation we were talking about computer stuff that neither of us really understands too well. So, wikipedia being my friend, I was able to get to the bottom of things. And I thought it was interesting enough to post here, for my faithful reader(s).

Here we go.

The conversation started with me telling my mom that I had alleviated (or I should say, my smart and patient boyfriend alleviated) my mounting frustration with the issues I was having with my wireless network, by suggesting I might need to update the firmware on my airport card (which I did, and which seems to have fixed the problem). She asked me what firmware actually was, and I really didn't know, but my non-techie brain led me to say that I thought it was not quite software and not quite hardware. Voila:

FIRMWARE: In computing, firmware is a computer program that is embedded in a hardware device, for example a microcontroller. It can also be provided on flash ROMs or as a binary image file that can be uploaded onto existing hardware by a user.

As its name suggests, firmware is somewhere between hardware and software. Like software, it is a computer program which is executed by a computer. But it is also an intimate and vital part of a piece of hardware, and has little meaning outside of that particular hardware.

This led to a conversation about how the "propeller heads" who worked with her on a project once tried to make her understand the difference between an application and a program. I told her I didn't think there was a difference: in my mind, "application" is just a different word for "program," the main difference being that an application is generally smaller than a program. I mean, I figured the point was much too fine for our non-techie brains to make. And so:

APPLICATION: Application software is a subclass of computer software that employs the capabilities of a computer directly to a task that the user wishes to perform. This should be contrasted with system software which is involved in integrating a computer's various capabilities, but typically does not directly apply them in the performance of tasks that benefit the user. In this context the term application refers to both the application software and its implementation.

PROGRAM: A computer program is a collection of instructions that describes a task, or set of tasks, to be carried out by a computer. More formally, it can be described as an expression of a computational method written in a computer language.

Computer programs, also known as software, may be categorized along functional lines. These functional categories include application software, operating systems, video games, and compilers, among others. Computer programs embedded in hardware devices are called firmware.

THUS, IT MAY BE CONCLUDED THAT: both firmware and applications are programs, but not all programs are applications or firmware. The terms are not exactly interchangeable. Enough to satisfy our civilian minds, and enough also to irk techies. Perhaps the analogy might be the interchange of "its" and "it's," which seems to be fine with people who do not work with words to the extent that we do, but which causes our blood pressure to rise quite noticeably.