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16,571 PointsWhat do we mean with "application" when it comes to mobile or web?
In this part of the course "What Some Common Languages Do and How They Work Together" at a certain point it is stated that if you program an application for android or ios, you use java, swift or objective-c.
And that if you create an application for the web you use other languages.
But what do you mean with application? Is it a website? or an app that you download and install on your device? Because if I were to create a website that I would want to run in web browsers on both desktop and mobile devices, I guess I wouldn't use java, swift or objective-c right? I would only use these programming languages if I wanted them to be installed om the device?
I guess I am just a bit confused by the little details, but maybe someone can explain it more?
3 Answers
Carlos Alberto Del Cueto Carrejo
13,817 PointsIt is not that difficult, I do understand how you got tangled with the terms. An application is defined as a set of functions or tools that allow you to gain some functionality, an Android app falls into this category. Now onto the confusing bit, languages such as HTML and CSS are used for web development but by themselves they do not make a web page a web application or web app for short, if you want to add some features such as a database connection, a shopping cart or even a calculator you would need to use the languages above with some Javascript, PHP or Ruby to name a few. That would make your web page a web app. An application on your PC whether its Microsoft, Linux or OSX would be your anti-virus , the notepad , a web browser or other tools. To give an example : a functionality of the web browser is to allow the user to access web pages o web apps.
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16,571 PointsThank you both! I think I do understand now!
Philip Gales
15,193 PointsA web application simply uses a web browser to communicate with you. An example is Quickbooks; I can use the traditional application (the downloaded one), or their web-based application.