| Processors | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-bit | 4-bit | 8-bit | 12-bit | 16-bit | 18-bit | 24-bit | 31-bit | 32-bit | 36-bit | 48-bit | 60-bit | 64-bit | 128-bit |
| Applications | |||||||||||||
| 8-bit | 16-bit | 32-bit | 64-bit | ||||||||||
| Data sizes | |||||||||||||
| bit nibble octet byte | |||||||||||||
| halfword word dword qword | |||||||||||||
| IEEE floating-point standard | |||||||||||||
| Single precision floating-point format (32-bit) Double precision floating-point format (64-bit) Quadruple precision floating-point format (128-bit) | |||||||||||||
In computer architecture, 32-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are at most 32 bits (4 octets) wide. Also, 32-bit CPU and ALU architectures are those that are based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. 32-bit is also a term given to a generation of computers in which 32-bit processors are the norm.
On the x86 architecture, a 32-bit application normally means software that typically (not necessarily) uses the 32-bit linear address space (or flat memory model) possible with the 80386 and later chips. In this context, the term came about because DOS, Microsoft Windows and OS/2[1] were originally written for the 8088/8086 and/or 80286, 16-bit microprocessors with a segmented address space where programs had to switch between segments to reach more than 64 kilobytes of code and/or data. As this is quite time consuming in comparison to other machine operations, the performance may suffer. Furthermore, programming with segments tend to become complicated; special far and near keywords and/or memory models had to be used (with care), not only in assembly language but also in high level languages such as Pascal, compiled BASIC, Fortran, C, etc.
The 80386 and its successors fully support the 16-bit segments of the 80286 but also segments for 32-bit address offsets (using the new 32-bit width of the main registers). If the base address of all 32-bit segments is set to 0, and segment registers are not used explicitly, the segmentation can be forgotten and the processor appears as having a simple linear 32-bit address space. Operating systems like Windows or OS/2 provide the possibility to run 16-bit (segmented) programs as well as 32-bit programs. The former possibility exists for backward compatibility and the latter is usually meant to be used for new software development.
This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.