| 32-bit application software that runs in a 32-bit . The term came about because and were originally written for the and . These are microprocessors with a . Programs with more than 64 kilobytes of code and/or data therefore had to switch between quite frequently. As this operation is quite time consuming in comparison to other machine operations, the application's performance may suffer. Furthermore, programming with segments is more involved than programming in a flat address space, giving rise to some complications in programming languages like "" in and {C++}. The shift from 16-bit software to 32-bit software on became possible with the introduction of the microprocessor. This microprocessor and its successors support a segmented address space with 16-bit and 32 bit segments (more precisely: segments with 16- or 32-bit address offset) or a linear 32-bit address space. For compatibility reasons, however, much of the software is nevertheless written in 16-bit models. s like or provide the possibility to run 16-bit (segmented) programs as well as 32-bit programs. The former possibility exists for and the latter is usually meant to be used for new software development. See also . (1995-12-11) |
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