what is 16 bit,32 bit,64 bit ?
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Answer / manjit singh
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 were the
norm.
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is
0 through 4,294,967,295 or −2,147,483,648 through
2,147,483,647 using two's complement encoding. Hence, a
processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4
GB of byte-addressable memory.The external address and data
buses are often wider than 32 bits but both of these are
stored and manipulated internally in the processor as 32-bit
quantities. For example, the Pentium Pro processor is a
32-bit machine, but the external address bus is 36 bits
wide, and the external data bus is 64 bits wide.[1]
16-bit file format
A 16-bit file format is a binary file format
for which each data element is defined on 16 bits (or 2
Bytes). An example of such a format is UTF-16 and the
Windows Metafile Format.
32- vs 64-bit
A change from a 32-bit to a 64-bit architecture is a
fundamental alteration, as most operating systems must be
extensively modified to take advantage of the new
architecture. Other software must also be ported to use the
new capabilities; older software is usually supported
through either a hardware compatibility mode (in which the
new processors support the older 32-bit version of the
instruction set as well as the 64-bit version), through
software emulation, or by the actual implementation of a
32-bit processor core within the 64-bit processor (as with
the Itanium processors from Intel, which include an x86
processor core to run 32-bit x86 applications). The
operating systems for those 64-bit architectures generally
support both 32-bit and 64-bit applications[13].
One significant exception to this is the AS/400, whose
software runs on a virtual ISA, called TIMI (Technology
Independent Machine Interface) which is translated to native
machine code by low-level software before being executed.
The low-level software is all that has to be rewritten to
move the entire OS and all software to a new platform, such
as when IBM transitioned their line from the older 32/48-bit
"IMPI" instruction set to 64-bit PowerPC (IMPI wasn't
anything like 32-bit PowerPC, so this was an even bigger
transition than from a 32-bit version of an instruction set
to a 64-bit version of the same instruction set).
While 64-bit architectures indisputably make working with
large data sets in applications such as digital video,
scientific computing, and large databases easier, there has
been considerable debate as to whether they or their 32-bit
compatibility modes will be faster than comparably-priced
32-bit systems for other tasks. In x86-64 architecture
(AMD64), the majority of the 32-bit operating systems and
applications are able to run smoothly on the 64-bit hardware.
A compiled Java program can run on a 32 bit or 64 bit Java
virtual machine without modification. The lengths and
precision of all the built in types are specified by the
standard and are not dependent on the underlying
architecture. Java programs that run on a 64 bit Java
virtual machine have access to a larger address space.[14]
Speed is not the only factor to consider in a comparison of
32-bit and 64-bit processors. Applications such as
multi-tasking, stress testing, and clustering—for HPC
(high-performance computing)—may be more suited to a 64-bit
architecture when deployed appropriately. 64-bit clusters
have been widely deployed in large organizations such as
IBM, HP and Microsoft, for this reason.
Pros and cons
A common misconception is that 64-bit architectures are no
better than 32-bit architectures unless the computer has
more than 4 GB of main memory. This is not entirely true:
* Some operating systems and certain hardware
configurations limit the physical memory space to 3 GB on
IA-32 systems, due to much of the 3–4 GB region being
reserved for hardware addressing; see 3 GB barrier. This is
not present in 64-bit architectures, which can use 4 GB of
memory and more. However, IA-32 processors from the Pentium
II onwards allow for a 36-bit physical memory address space,
using Physical Address Extension (PAE), which gives a 64 GB
physical address range, of which up to 62 GB may be used by
main memory; operating systems that support PAE may not be
limited to 4GB of physical memory, even on IA-32 processors.
* Some operating systems reserve portions of process
address space for OS use, effectively reducing the total
address space available for mapping memory for user
programs. For instance, Windows XP DLLs and other user mode
OS components are mapped into each process's address space,
leaving only 2 to 3 GB (depending on the settings) address
space available. This limit is currently much higher on
64-bit operating systems and does not realistically restrict
memory usage.
* Memory-mapped files are becoming more difficult to
implement in 32-bit architectures. A 4 GB file is no longer
uncommon, and such large files cannot be memory mapped
easily to 32-bit architectures; only a region of the file
can be mapped into the address space, and to access such a
file by memory mapping, those regions will have to be mapped
into and out of the address space as needed. This is a
problem, as memory mapping remains one of the most efficient
disk-to-memory methods, when properly implemented by the OS.
* Some programs such as data encryption software can
benefit greatly from 64-bit registers (if the software is
64-bit compiled) and effectively execute 3 to 5 times faster
on 64-bit than on 32-bit.[citation needed]
The main disadvantage of 64-bit architectures is that
relative to 32-bit architectures, the same data occupies
more space in memory (due to swollen pointers and possibly
other types and alignment padding). This increases the
memory requirements of a given process and can have
implications for efficient processor cache utilization.
Maintaining a partial 32-bit model is one way to handle this
and is in general reasonably effective. For example, the
z/OS operating system takes this approach currently,
requiring program code to reside in 31-bit address spaces
(the high order bit is not used in address calculation on
the underlying hardware platform) while data objects can
optionally reside in 64-bit regions.
Currently, most proprietary x86 software is compiled into
32-bit code, with less being also compiled into 64-bit code
(although the trend is rapidly equalizing[citation needed]),
so much does not take advantage of the larger 64-bit address
space or wider 64-bit registers and data paths on x86
processors, or the additional registers in 64-bit mode.
However, users of most RISC platforms, and users of free or
open source operating systems (where the source code is
available for recompiling with a 64-bit compiler) have been
able to use exclusive 64-bit computing environments for
years due to the likelihood of the existence of someone
willing to compile the code thusly. Not all such
applications require a large address space nor manipulate
64-bit data items, so they wouldn't benefit from the larger
address space or wider registers and data paths. The main
advantage to 64-bit versions of such applications is the
ability to access more registers in the x86-64 architecture.
| Is This Answer Correct ? | 6 Yes | 1 No |
Answer / saurabh
16 bits, 32 bit and 64 bit are buses which help to transfer
data inside the computer. A bus is a group of electrical
conductor, running parallel to each other caring data from
on e point to other. Bus is multiple of eight like eg
8,16,32,64. 8bit means only 8 bit of data can be transfer,
32 bit mean only 32 bit of data can be transfer. 64 bit
means only 64 bit data can be transfer.
Bus can be a wires in a cable or copper traces on circuit
board.
| Is This Answer Correct ? | 4 Yes | 1 No |
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