Why is int typically 32 bit on 64 bit compilers? When I was starting programming, I've been taught int is typically the same width as the underlying architecture. And I agree that this also makes sense, I find it logical for a unspecified width integer to be as wide as the underlying platform (unless we are talking 8 or 16 bit machines, where such a small range for int will be barely applicable).
Later on I learned int is typically 32 bit on most 64 bit platforms. So I wonder what is the reason for this. For storing data I would prefer an explicitly specified width of the data type, so this leaves generic usage for int, which doesn't offer any performance advantages, at least on my system I have the same performance for 32 and 64 bit integers. So that leaves the binary memory footprint, which would be slightly reduced, although not by a lot...
Seriously, according to the standard, "Plain ints have thenatural size suggested by the architecture of the executionenvironment", which does mean a 64 bit int on a 64 bitmachine. One could easily argue that anything else isnon-conformant. But in practice, the issues are more complex:switching from 32 bit int to 64 bit int would not allowmost programs to handle large data sets or whatever (unlike theswitch from 16 bits to 32); most programs are probablyconstrained by other considerations. And it would increase thesize of the data sets, and thus reduce locality and slow theprogram down.
Finally (and probably most importantly), if int were 64 bits,short would have to be either 16 bits or32 bits, and you'ld have no way of specifying the other (exceptwith the typedefs in , and the intent is that theseshould only be used in very exceptional circumstances).I suspect that this was the major motivation.
The history, trade-offs and decisions are explained by The Open Group at It covers the various data models, their strengths and weaknesses and the changes made to the Unix specifications to accommodate 64-bit computing.
Using a bigger integer will however have a negative effect on how many integers sized "things" fit in the cache on the processor. So making them bigger will make calculations that involve large numbers of integers (e.g. arrays) take longer because.
The int is the natural size of the machine-word isn't something stipulated by the C++ standard. In the days when most machines where 16 or 32 bit, it made sense to make it either 16 or 32 bits, because that is a very efficient size for those machines. When it comes to 64 bit machines, that no longer "helps". So staying with 32 bit int makes more sense.
Edit: Interestingly, when Microsoft moved to 64-bit, they didn't even make long 64-bit, because it would break too many things that relied on long being a 32-bit value (or more importantly, they had a bunch of things that relied on long being a 32-bit value in their API, where sometimes client software uses int and sometimes long, and they didn't want that to break).
This would ostensibly seem to say that on my 64 bit architecture (and everyone else's) a plain int should have a 64 bit size; that's a size suggested by the architecture, right? However I must assert that the natural size for even 64 bit architecture is 32 bits. The quote in the specs is mainly there for cases where 16 bit plain ints is desired--which is the minimum size the specifications allow.
The largest factor is convention, going from a 32 bit architecture with a 32 bit plain int and adapting that source for a 64 bit architecture is simply easier if you keep it 32 bits, both for the designers and their users in two different ways:
The first is that less differences across systems there are the easier is for everyone. Discrepancies between systems been only headaches for most programmer: they only serve to make it harder to run code across systems. It'll even add on to the relatively rare cases where you're not able to do it across computers with the same distribution just 32 bit and 64 bit. However, as John Kugelman pointed out, architectures have gone from a 16 bit to 32 bit plain int, going through the hassle to do so could be done again today, which ties into his next point:
This now would imply a requirement for the specifications to change, but even if a designer goes rogue, it's highly likely it'd be damaged or grow obsolete from the change. Designers for long lasting systems have to work with an entire base of entwined code, both their own in the system, dependencies, and user's code they'll want to run and a huge amount of work to do so without considering the repercussions is simply unwise.
Main reason is backward compatibility. Moreover, there is already a 64 bit integer type long and same goes for float types: float and double. Changing the sizes of these basic types for different architectures will only introduce complexity. Moreover, 32 bit integer responds to many needs in terms of range.
The C + + standard does not say how much memory should be used for the int type, tells you how much memory should be used at least for the type int. In many programming environments on 32-bit pointer variables, "int" and "long" are all 32 bits long.
Yes to the first question and no to the second question; it's a virtual machine. Your problems are probably related to unspecified changes in library implementation between versions. Although it could be, say, a race condition.
There are some hoops the VM has to go through. Notably references are treated in class files as if they took the same space as ints on the stack. double and long take up two reference slots. For instance fields, there's some rearrangement the VM usually goes through anyway. This is all done (relatively) transparently.
Also some 64-bit JVMs use "compressed oops". Because data is aligned to around every 8 or 16 bytes, three or four bits of the address are useless (although a "mark" bit may be stolen for some algorithms). This allows 32-bit address data (therefore using half as much bandwidth, and therefore faster) to use heap sizes of 35- or 36-bits on a 64-bit platform.
The Java JNI requires OS libraries of the same "bittiness" as the JVM. If you attempt to build something that depends, for example, on IESHIMS.DLL (lives in %ProgramFiles%\Internet Explorer) you need to take the 32bit version when your JVM is 32bit, the 64bit version when your JVM is 64bit. Likewise for other platforms.
"If you compile your code on an 32 Bit Machine, your code should only run on an 32 Bit Processor. If you want to run your code on an 64 Bit JVM you have to compile your class Files on an 64 Bit Machine using an 64-Bit JDK."
When I try to connect to Oracle, I experience this error message. Currently I have both of 32 bits and 64 bits OCI installed. How do I make sure Alteryx picks up 64 bits instead of 32 bits? Any settings from Alteryx?
Currently if I use 32 bits OCI, it works.
I just wanted to respond to this post just to put closure to it, even Henriette had helped you resolve the issue. Generally speaking, the issue appears to have stemmed from moving the location of the installation of the Oracle instant client. Alteryx did not know where to find it after that point. Pointing Alteryx to the new location, along with a few other troubleshooting steps, resolved your issue.
Thank you for your post. As this will likely require a closer look at your computer and configurations, please submit a support request to sup...@alteryx.com. A Customer Support Engineer will be more than happy to assist you.
You can also have both versions of the driver running if needed for backwards compatibility. You just need to have you SQL_PATH with both locations separated by a semi-colon. Keep in mind that Alteryx will only read the variables when it opens, so you will need to close designer and re-open to make Alteryx aware of the new location.
This setting will NOT change how plugins process audio. Your plugins will process audio in the format they are coded to process in.
Changing to 64bit processing will only affect Cubase processing and that is the summing.
Theoretically it is more precise but you probably wont hear a difference.
It will take a tiny bit more CPU. However, as most plugins are already coded to do internal processing in 64bit, most people will actually have a lower CPU usage with 64bit because they will save the conversion from 32bit to 64bit and back again that happens every time audio passes through a plugin.
How does that work exactly ?
Is the 32 or 64 bit processing only for the internal mathematics, or is the audio actually converted to 32 or 64 bit for the whole signal chain ?
For example, if the project is set to 16 bit, is the audio converted to the internal 32 or 64 bit only for the processing time then gets truncated back to 16 bit , or does it stay in 32 or 64 bit for the whole chain until you render or export ?
Thanks for the answer, so the bit depth you set in the project settings will only apply when you record new files ?
For example creating a dummy input and recording one track to another in real time, the resulting file will be in the same bit depth as the one set in the project ?
Then how about when the project is set to 16 bit, the interface will also be working in 16 bit, but when the 32 or 64 bit audio reaches the converters and is truncated to 16 bit, why is dither not necessary ?
Well, yes if you set your project to 16 bit you would need to apply dithering. But no one in their right mind would set their project to 16 bit. Most will set it to 24 bit to get the max dynamic range out of their converters and then a few lazy folks with bad gain staging habits like myself, would set the project to 32 bit float to avoid any chances of clipping printed to a file.
In both 24 bit and 32 bit float, you would only need dithering if you are exporting to 16 bit format.
If I understand your answer, the best choice for me would be 32 bit float processing and always record and render audio with this same format (disk space is no longer an issue today) and i apply dithering when I export in 16-bit format.
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