22 Nov
2000
22 Nov
'00
11:45 a.m.
Try asking programmers what width processors are
instead of hardware
engineers. They'll tell you that the 8080 and Z-80 are 8-bitters,
and that the 68000 and IBM 360 (most models) are 32-bitters.
Nope, any programmer who cares how fast their code runs will let you
know that the 68000 is a 16 bitter. It's not like I've never coded
for 68K. I certainly prefer it to intel. That doesn't make it
32 bit.
No, every x86
chip since the original 386 is a 32 bit CPU since
the width of the integer ALU is 32 bits.
Actually there is a 64-bit integer ALU in most recent x86 processors.
Describing where it is and what it does is left as an exercise to
the reader. The reality is that there is no single
"correct" measure of the
"bitness" of a processor.
Ok, I'll admit that.
Eric