Eh? That’s where the old one came from too.
I think BigT meant that maybe “app” applied to smartphone apps arose independently of “app” for “big-ass software application” though from the same roots. Kind of like two species that have a common ancestor.
Actually I think the concept of what “app” means hasn’t changed, it’s that that platform has changed. In the 1960s an application was something that was on a mainframe computer that took up half a building and was used by trained users. Today an application is something that’s in everybody’s pocket.
The name of the folder is an implementation detail; I meant that Steam never refers to them as “apps” in the UI of the program.
But you’re right, it indicates that, at least, someone at Valve considers them apps.
Yes it was just intended as an interesting (well perhaps not) fact.
With apologies for the hijack, applications in OSX aren’t files – they’re packages. (Right-click / ctrl+click one and select Show Package Contents.) Packages are like folders, in that they contain multiple files. Packages, however, do run a program when double-clicked. For instance, double-clicking Safari.app runs /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari.
To return to the thread topic, yes, that makes sense as an abbreviation for “application”, just like “exe” is an abbreviation for “executable”.