64 bit vs. 32 bit for developers...
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Not sure if this is the right place for my question. I've got my new laptop, but preloaded with Windows 7 64 bit OS. As a developer, I got a question about the use of SDKs and other stuff on my new machine. For example, when I try SQLite download, they only provide packages for "x86-win32" platforms. Does x86 32 bit stuff works well on a x86 64 bit machine? Some explannation would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Best, Jun
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Not sure if this is the right place for my question. I've got my new laptop, but preloaded with Windows 7 64 bit OS. As a developer, I got a question about the use of SDKs and other stuff on my new machine. For example, when I try SQLite download, they only provide packages for "x86-win32" platforms. Does x86 32 bit stuff works well on a x86 64 bit machine? Some explannation would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Best, Jun
Yes, 32-bit code will run fine on Windows 64-bit.
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Not sure if this is the right place for my question. I've got my new laptop, but preloaded with Windows 7 64 bit OS. As a developer, I got a question about the use of SDKs and other stuff on my new machine. For example, when I try SQLite download, they only provide packages for "x86-win32" platforms. Does x86 32 bit stuff works well on a x86 64 bit machine? Some explannation would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Best, Jun
At the moment, all Intel/AMD based systems that support 64-bit also support 32-bit applications; same for Windows itself. So a 32-bit app will run just fine on any 64-bit system. Mind you, an app must be 32.64 homogeneous, you can't built an app that refers to both instruction sets; and that is where some trouble may originate: if you have a 32-bit DLL somewhere (say OLEDB to connect to Access), and some 64-bit DLL from some other source, you can't combine them into a single app. If you build apps yourself, selecting "target=x86" on a 64-bit system should provide 100% probability the app will run on all 32-bit and all 64-bit systems. Unfortunately, Visual Studio defaults to "target=AnyCPU" which makes managed code run in 64-bit mode, and that would fail to load a 32-bit DLL later on. :)
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Not sure if this is the right place for my question. I've got my new laptop, but preloaded with Windows 7 64 bit OS. As a developer, I got a question about the use of SDKs and other stuff on my new machine. For example, when I try SQLite download, they only provide packages for "x86-win32" platforms. Does x86 32 bit stuff works well on a x86 64 bit machine? Some explannation would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Best, Jun
It depends (as always). Most 32-bit apps will work fine on 64-bit systems, but you may bump up against occasional problems. One example I have run into is an application called TugZip, which is a file compression utility (c.f. WinZip, 7Zip, etc.). It installs and runs fine under 64-bit Windows but none of the shell extensions work. So, if you right-click on a .zip file in the Windows explorer, then none of the TugZip options show in the pop-up menu. I have seen various work-arounds suggested such as starting Windows explorer in 32-bit mode, but it's much easier to use another tool which integrates properly. They may have fixed it by now, I'm not saying TugZip is bad, wrong, or anything like that. I'm just using it as an example of a 32-bit app which doesn't quite work on a 64-bit platform.
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It depends (as always). Most 32-bit apps will work fine on 64-bit systems, but you may bump up against occasional problems. One example I have run into is an application called TugZip, which is a file compression utility (c.f. WinZip, 7Zip, etc.). It installs and runs fine under 64-bit Windows but none of the shell extensions work. So, if you right-click on a .zip file in the Windows explorer, then none of the TugZip options show in the pop-up menu. I have seen various work-arounds suggested such as starting Windows explorer in 32-bit mode, but it's much easier to use another tool which integrates properly. They may have fixed it by now, I'm not saying TugZip is bad, wrong, or anything like that. I'm just using it as an example of a 32-bit app which doesn't quite work on a 64-bit platform.
That's a good example... I haven't seen too many things not work right. Usually if you have hardware drivers, those are the biggest headache with 64bit machines because the 32bit versions will usually never work on the 64bit machines. I'm dealing with one of these little headaches now... X|