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Application vs Task - What's the difference?

application | task |

In computing terms the difference between application and task

is that application is a computer program or the set of software that the end user perceives as a single entity as a tool for a well-defined purpose. (Also called: application program; application software. while task is a process or execution of a program.

As nouns the difference between application and task

is that application is the act of applying or laying on, in a literal sense; as, the application of emollients to a diseased limb while task is a piece of work done as part of one’s duties.

As a verb task is

to assign a task to, or impose a task on.

application

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of applying or laying on, in a literal sense; as, the application of emollients to a diseased limb.
  • The thing applied.
  • * Johnson
    • He invented a new application by which blood might be stanched.
  • * 1857 , John Eadie, ?John Francis Waller, ?William John Macquorn Rankine, The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography
    • His body was stripped, laid out upon a table, and covered with a hearsecloth, when some of his attendants perceived symptoms of returning animation, and by the use of warm applications , internal and external, gradually restored him to life.
  • The act of applying as a means; the employment of means to accomplish an end; specific use.
  • * (John Locke)
    • If a right course be taken with children, there will not be much need of the application of the common rewards and punishments.
  • The act of directing or referring something to a particular case, to discover or illustrate agreement or disagreement, fitness, or correspondence.
    • I make the remark, and leave you to make the '''application .
    The application of a theory to a set of data can be challenging.
  • (computing) A computer program or the set of software that the end user perceives as a single entity as a tool for a well-defined purpose. (Also called: application program; application software.)
    • This iPhone application can connect to most social networks.
  • A verbal or written request for assistance or employment or admission to a school.
    • December 31 is the deadline for MBA applications .
  • (bureaucracy, legal) A petition, entreaty, or other request.
    • Their application for a deferral of the hearing was granted.

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    Synonyms

    * (computer software) software, program

    References

    * WordNet 3.0 [http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=application]. ----

    task

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A piece of work done as part of one’s duties.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= A new prescription , passage=As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.}}
  • A difficult or tedious undertaking.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author= Ian Sample
    • , volume=189, issue=6, page=34, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains , passage=Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.}}
  • An objective.
  • (computing) A process or execution of a program.

    • Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "task": difficult, easy, simple, hard, tough, complex, not-so-easy, challenging, complicated, tricky, formidable, arduous, laborious, onerous, small, big, huge, enormous, tremendous, gigantic, mammoth, colossal, gargantuan, social, intellectual, theological, important, basic, trivial, unpleasant, demanding, pleasant, noble, painful, grim, responsible, rewarding, boring, ungrateful, delightful, glorious, agreeable.

    Synonyms

    * (piece of work) chore * (difficult undertaking) undertaking * (objective) objective, goal * (process) process

    Derived terms

    * multitasking * subtask * task force * take to task * taskable * taskbody * tasklet * taskmaster

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To assign a task to, or impose a task on.
    • On my first day in the office, I was tasked with sorting a pile of invoices.
  • * 1610 , , act 1 scene 2
    • All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come / To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, / To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride / On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task / Ariel and all his quality.
  • * Dryden
    • There task thy maids, and exercise the loom.
  • To oppress with severe or excessive burdens; to tax.
  • To charge, as with a fault.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
    • Too impudent to task me with those errors.

    Anagrams

    * * *