An analysis of the word program and its concepts

This article by Dan Polansky analyzes the concepts denoted by the English words program and programme. It adds the German word Programm into the analysis (currently incomplete). In a sense, it is a discursive form of the semantic part of a dictionary entry.

Semantically related words and phrases

1) plan, schedule; 2) aim, end, goal, objective, purpose, mission; 3) recipe (in a cookbook); 4) instruction manual, user guide, step-by-step how-to guide; 5) prescription

Computer programs

Computer programs are sets of executable instructions detailed and unambiguous enough so that a computer can interpret and execute these instructions without an interpretive help from a human. They notably feature instruction sequences, conditionals, loops, named procedures (with parameter passing) and procedure calls. In an imperative programming language, the sequential order of instructions matters (as it does in a cooking recipe), whereas the sequential order of procedure definitions (e.g. which procedure is defined first) is immaterial.

Programmable calculators feature programs resembling to an extent computer programs.

Further reading:

• Computer program, wikipedia.org
• Programmable calculator, wikipedia.org

Washing machine programs

Washing machine programs bear some relationship to computer programs, yet are rather different.

Business program

In business, there is the term "program management", standing in contrast to "project management". Whatever a business program is exactly, it is not something resembling the detailed and precise set of instructions that constitute a computer program.

Further reading:

• Program management, wikipedia.org

Government program

Some things are called a government program. Whether that is something like a business program is unclear.

Mathematical programming

Mathematical programming refers to optimization, that is, finding the maximum or minimum of an objective function (goal function) given the constraints.

Further reading:

• Mathematical optimization, wikipedia.org

Political party manifesto

A political party manifesto (U.K. term) or party platform (U.S. term) is a statement of policies that a political party aims to implement[really?]. In German, it is referred to as "Parteiprogramm".

Further reading:

• Party platform, wikipedia.org
• Manifesto, parliament.uk
• 5.1 National Political Party Platforms | The American Presidency Project, presidency.ucsb.edu

Fernsehprogramm

The German word Fernsehprogramm (as if television program) refers to a sequence (or its listing) of TV shows or segments that are going to be aired on a given part of the day, a day, a week, etc. Thus, Fernsehprogramm is a false friend of television program. (The German word also refers to a particular TV channel.) The English word schedule seems applicable.

A similar German word is Rundfunkprogramm, apparently referring to both radio and television.

Television program

Television program seems to refer to a particular segment (say 1-hour long) or a series of such segments (say Sesame Street). TV show seems to be synonymous or near-synonymous. The terms do not seem to refer to any item aired in television; for instance, it seems not to refer to a movie intended for movie theaters when that movie is aired in TV. This is tentative and requires verification.

Studienprogramm

The German word "Studienprogramm" (as if study program) refers to something in the context of education, probably at university level, possibly a collection of courses with dependencies between the courses. Different students at a university faculty could possibly be enrolled in different Studienprogramme (needs verification/clarification). The English word "curriculum" is possibly semantically related.

Theater program

In one sense, theater program seems to refer to some kind of educational program. The phrase is used in this sense e.g. by University of Portland and Rutgers.

In a different sense, it seems to refer to a booklet informing about a theatrical performance. This seems to be the same or similar sense as that of the German word Theaterprogramm. However, Duden has two distinct senses for Theaterprogramm. A semantically related word is playbill', but unlike program or programme, it seems to refer to a poster rather than a booklet.

Links:

• Programmer (booklet), wikipedia.org
• Theaterprogramm, duden.de

Algorithm

In computing, a program is contrasted to algorithm. One algorithm, e.g. bubble sort, is generally implemented by different programs in different languages. An algorithm can probably be characterized as a certain kind of procedural (how to proceed) semantics of programs, which contrasts to input-ouput behavioral semantics. Technically, adding a no-operation/pass instruction (doing nothing) to the end of a program creates a different program, although this fine granularity for program sameness contradicts common linguistic usage (a slightly updated version of a program is typically seen as a version of the same program rather than two programs).

Script

In computing, some programs are called scripts. The difference between scripts and programs is rather superficial; most languages called scripting ones feature conditionals and loops.

The word "script" brings us to what is called script by Eric Berne (known for the psychological theory known as transactional analysis), an entity that he also calls life plan. There seems to be a conceptual link between Berne's script/life plan and program in some sense. The name of Berne's script could have come from theatrical script or movie script, which is the text to be read/said by the actors.

Program in biology

Merriam-Webster's program entry covers some use in biology, in reference to DNA or RNA; its usage example uses the phrase "genetic program". One may wonder whether this usage resulted as a computer program metaphor.

The language of programming in relation to genes is used by Richard Dawkins: "What it means is that natural selection, Darwinian natural selection, which is the process that has brought all living things to be the way they are, is best seen at the gene level, is best seen as a process of differential survival among genes, and therefore living organisms and their bodies are best seen as machines programmed by the genes to propagate those very same genes." It seems likely that similar language can be found in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. The language rises doubt: one would think that genes are something like a program rather than programmers. It would be the natural selection that would be the programmer, using an analogue of what in computer science is known as genetic programming.

Further reading:

• program, merriam-webster.com

Etymology

The origin of the word program traces back to Greek words meaning write and before. Taking these two semantic elements but switching to Latin, we may arrive at the English verb prescribe and the noun prescription. The word script is from a Latin word meaning to write. Relating to the etymology, we may point out that a description of observed facts happens after they are observed, whereas a program is written before actions driven by it take place. One could have a look at the etymologies of other semantically related words; this is left as an exercise for the reader.

Further reading

• Program, wikipedia.org
• program, onelook.com