32-bit application
A 32-bit applicationIBM PC software that runs in32-bit flat address space.The term 32-bit application came about because DOSMicrosoft Windows were originally written forIntel 8088Intel 80286 microprocessors. These16 bit microprocessors withsegmented address space. Programsmore than 64 kilobytescode and/or data therefore hadswitch between segments quite frequently. As this operationquite time consumingcomparisonother machine operations,application's performance may suffer. Furthermore, programmingsegmentsmore involved than programming inflat address space, giving risesome complicationsprogramming languages like "memory models"C programming languageC plus plus programming language.
The shift from 16-bit software32-bit software on IBM compatible systems became possible withintroduction of'386 microprocessor. This microprocessorits successors supportsegmented address space16-bit32 bit segments (more precisely: segments16- or 32-bit address offset) orlinear 32-bit address space. For compatibility reasons, however, much ofsoftwarenevertheless written16-bit models.
Operating systems like Windows or OS/2 providepossibilityrun 16-bit (segmented) programs as well as 32-bit programs. The former possibility existsbackward compatibility andlatterusually meantbe usednew software development.
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