What is Bit? (As in Windows 32 Bit or 64 Bit)?

[ag3]

What is a bit (when talking about O/S or application). I know that a bit is a binary digit (0 or 1). But I don't understand what they mean by 32 Bit or 64 Bit software.

 

[Apokalipse]

a byte is a collection of bits
32-bit = 32 1's and 0's to a byte
64-bit = 64 1's and 0's to a byte

 

[nak-1]

Becuase a 64 bit processor has a different architecture to a 32 bit processor you need to use a different compiler to construct meaningfull code or that processor. ie. you need one version of the software to run on the 64 bit and one on the 32 bit. Sme 64 bit processors will run code designed for their 32 bit predecessors, but this code generally tends to run slower than the same code compiled for the 64 bit only.

You won't get 64 bit binaries to run on 32 bit systems however.

 

[Apokalipse]

the Athlon 64 3400+ outperforms the P4 3.2GHZ in 32-bit, they can't compare the two in 64-bit because P4's cannot process 64-bit