Porting to 64-bit Systems

▤ Summary

While first 64-bit computers have been introduced in the 1970s, only in the mid-1990s did major corporations start releasing 64-bit processors to the market on a larger scale. However a multitude of implicit assumptions used all over C and C++ code bases suddenly was no longer valid. The code written and tested in 32-bit system was no longer valid with migration to 64-bit computers. Vendors of static analysis tools -- Coverity and Klocwork come to mind -- provide mechanisms that further assist smooth code migration from 32-bit to 64-bit machines. This article contains detailed analysis and recommendations for dealing with a multitude of issues related to 32-bit to 64-bit migration.

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