Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 995.2
The term "basic operational program," as used in Section 995, means a computer program that is fundamental and necessary to the functioning of a computer. A basic operational program is that part of an operating system including supervisors, monitors, executives, and control or master programs that consist of the control program elements of that system.
For purposes of this section, the terms "control program" and "basic operational program" are interchangeable. A control program, as opposed to a processing program, controls the operation of a computer by managing the allocation of all system resources, including the central processing unit, main storage, input/output devices and processing programs. A processing program is used to develop and implement the specific applications that the computer is to perform. Its operation is possible only through the facilities provided by the control program. It is not in itself fundamental and necessary to the functioning of a computer.
Excluded from the term "basic operational program" are processing programs, which consist of language translators, including, but not limited to, assemblers and compilers; service programs, including, but not limited to, data set utilities, sort/merge utilities, and emulators; data management systems, also known as generalized file-processing software; and application programs, including, but not limited to, payroll, inventory control, and production control.
Also excluded from the term "basic operational program" are programs or parts of programs developed for or by a user if they were developed solely for the solution of an individual operational problem of the user.
A control program, as used in this section, includes the following functions: selection, assignment, and control of input and output devices; loading of programs, including selection of programs from a system resident library; handling the steps necessary to accomplish job-to-job transition; controlling the allocation of memory; controlling concurrent operation of multiple programs or computers; and protecting data from being inadvertently destroyed as a result of operator program error.
Ca. Rev. and Tax. Code § 995.2