The switch from 32 bit to 64 bit computing

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So I've been hearing about how everyone has (or is) moving over to 64 bit computing these days. I'm curious as to whether all 32 bit applications are properly supported on a 64 bit platform. I did hear that backward compatibility towards 32 bit apps on a 64 bit OS isn't that good so I would like to hear your opinions on this.

Thanks!

Posted 18-Apr-11 20:21pm

Nithin Sundar

Updated 18-Apr-11 20:22pm

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Just about every application I've ran that's 32bit runs fine on 64bit. You usually only run into problems with device drivers. So if you have an old printer lying around you may have some problems getting the drivers to work at all, but with the cost of printers nowadays, that's not a big concern to most people. Just about anything new that's coming out really has no issue, as developers/engineers, we have to make sure we're compatible with the most common systems out there, and right now, 64bit is VERY popular in newer systems (cause of all the RAM it can support).

Posted 13-Jul-11 16:20pm

Albert Holguin

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E.F. Nijboer · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-18T22:42:00

Currently all amd64 architecture based processors support 3 modes. 32bit (legacy mode), 64bit and also compatibility mode. The last mode means running 64bit but with compatibility support for 32 and 16bit (except 16bit real mode). Since there are a lot of 32bit applications, most use legacy or compatibility mode. But what does this mean for you?

Well, actually it doesn't mean much to you except when you dive deeper into the system. When you are a programmer working on a device driver this may affect you. However, then you should already use 64bit pointers since windows 95 if you would do it right. Most of the time you don't have to worry and let the compiler and OS handle it. If you use the right types, meaning you use the correct pointer type and not int32 for pointers, then the compiler will substitute that with the correct size of whatever the native pointer might be for your target. So it all comes down to correct code, so you won't have any (or at least not very much) problems at all.

Good luck!

>> About 32bit applications on 64bit systems: Don't worry to much about that because it will eventually be the same with 16bit applications now. It is actually very sad that about 25% of your processor is used for legacy instructions and modes that will never be used. So when everyone is going totally native 64bit, the processor will then have so much power that it has no trouble at all emulating whatever mode and instruction needed. It would actually be very nice to loose those conversion instructions from the time that converting characters to numbers and vice versa where very expensive but still hog a lot of small and fast single byte instructions in ia32 systems today.