Re: Offload from the AS/400

>How can a CEO understand the benefits of 64 bit?  Because their kid's
Nintendo is
>64 bits?  For that matter, how can I understand? :-)

Well, speed is one big advantage. As an example of how the speed improves,
you are probably familiar with the the AS/400 loading numbers using packed
decimal format. In doing so, if you want to load a 15 digit number with
sign, you need to load 64 bits. On a 16 bit machine, the processor will
take four operations to process that number. On a 64 bit machine it
happens in one. If the CPUs both had the same clock speed, the 64 bit
would perform four times faster in such operations.

Also, a 64 bit machine can directly address a much larger memory size,
very important on a virtual memory machine.

Now, there is a lot more to consider, but it seemed like you were looking
for some basic understanding of what advantage the wider processor has. 

>Art Tostaine, Jr.


Chris Rehm
Mr.AS400@ibm.net
You have to ask yourself, "How often can I afford to be unexpectedly out of 
business?" 
Get an AS/400.
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