What do x86_64, i386, ia64 and other such jargons stand for?

x86-64 processor computer-architecture instruction-set itanium
hardcoder picture hardcoder · Jan 29, 2014 · Viewed 16.4k times · Source

I frequently encounter these terms and am confused about them. Are they specific to the Processor, or the Operating System, or both?

I have Ubuntu 12.04 running on Intel i7 machine. So which one of them would apply for my case?

Answer

Hans Passant picture Hans Passant · Jan 29, 2014

They are processor instruction set names:

  • i386 is the name of the 32-bit instruction set first implemented by Intel in the 386 processor. It became dominant thanks to dirt-cheap PC hardware.
  • x86-64 is the name of the AMD extension added to i386 to make it capable of executing 64-bit code. This is the one you have. It is highly compatible with i386 and will execute a 32-bit program as fast as an i386 processor.
  • ia64 is the name of the instruction set used in Itanium processors. The other 64-bit architecture that nobody uses anymore.

Related questions

What's the purpose of the LEA instruction?

For me, it just seems like a funky MOV. What's its purpose and when should I use it?

Read More
How can I determine if a .NET assembly was built for x86 or x64?

I've got an arbitrary list of .NET assemblies. I need to programmatically check if each DLL was built for x86 (as opposed to x64 or Any CPU). Is this possible?

Read More
How to include static library in makefile

I have the following makefile CXXFILES = pthreads.cpp CXXFLAGS = -O3 -o prog -rdynamic -D_GNU_SOURCE -L./libmine LIBS = -lpthread -ldl all: $(CXX) $(CXXFILES) $(LIBS) $(CXXFLAGS) clean: rm -f prog *.o I am trying to include the ./libmine library within …

Read More