32 bit: what changed
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Title: 32 bit
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| 1 | + | A **32-bit** processor is one that generally supports a word size of 2**32, where the constant "[[maxint]]" has the value 2**32-1, or 4,294,967,295. It also means that programs and data spaces can be much larger than on the older 16-bit machines. It also means that data space is much smaller than on current (2020) [[64 bit]] machines. | |
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| 3 | + | Examples of 32-bit processors include | |
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| 5 | + | - X86 microcomputer (WINTEL architecture) | |
| 6 | + | - Hewlett-Packard VAX mainframe/minicomputer | |
| 7 | + | - IBM 360/370 Mainframe series (now known as Z-series) | |
| 8 | + | - Motorola 68000 series (Macintosh) | |
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| 10 | + | The 32-bit processor type on the X86 (80386, 80486, Pentium) added additional features including enhanced multiprocessing, which is why you can have several programs running simultaneously, and task-protection, which (supposedly) means that if one program crashes it doesn't take the whole system down with it. This behaviour works more consistently on Linux than on Windows. | |
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| 12 | + | Some 32-bit processors (X86) are enhancements of 16-bit processors, and generally can run 16-bit applications. The reverse, however, is not true; 32-bit code cannot run on a machine smaller than 32 bits. | |
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| 14 | + | ## See Also | |
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| 16 | + | - [[Writing portable code regarding the processor architecture]] | |
| 17 | + | - [[64 bit]] | |
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| 19 | + | --- | |
| 20 | + | *From the Free Pascal wiki, page "32 bit", as it stood on 2020-10-10 after a change by Arent, out of the wiki's dump of 2024-05-26. Copyright stays with the author who wrote it, according to the old wiki's [[Licensing]] page. If you have concerns about this material, [message the admin](/wiki-contact).* | |
| 21 | + | Category: Processors |