Standalone program

Article summary

A standalone program, also known as a freestanding program, is a computer program that does not load any external module, library function or program and that is designed to boot with the bootstrap procedure of the target processor – it runs on bare metal. In early computers like the ENIAC without the concept of an operating system, standalone programs were the only way to run a computer. Standalone programs are usually written in assembly language for a specific hardware. Later standalone programs typically were provided for utility functions such as disk formatting. Also, computers with very limited memory may use standalone programs, i.e. most computers until the mid-1950s and later still embedded processors. Standalone programs are now mainly limited to SoC's or microcontrollers (where battery life, price, and data space are at premiums) and critical systems.…

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