In computing, a word or word is the term used to refer to the unit of data that a particular processor uses to work.
A word is a piece of data that has a fixed size and is treated as a unit by the computer’s processor hardware.
The size or length of a word is measured in number of bits, which is an important feature in the design of a particular processor or computer architecture.
This word size determines many aspects of the computer’s design, structure, and operation.
Modern processors typically have a word size of 8, 16, 24, 32, or 64 bits, while PC or notebook computers typically use 32 or 64 bits.
Words of other sizes such as 9, 12, 18, 36, 39, 40, 48 and 60 bits have also been used throughout the history of computing, some also used today for specific purpose processors.
Processors also existed, especially in the first computers (50s and 60s of the last century), where the size of the word was variable.
Examples of famous processor families and their word size
– Intel 4004, 4-bit (release year: 1971)
– Intel 8008, 8-bit (release year: 1972)
– Intel 8080, 8-bit (release year: 1974)
– Zilog Z80, 8-bit (release year: 1976)
– 16-bit x86 (Intel 8086), 16-bit (release year: 1978)
– 16-bit x86 (Intel 8087) with floating point, 16-bit (release year: 1980)
– IA-32 (Intel 80386Intel 80386), 32-bit (release year: 1985)
– ARMv1, 32-bit (release year: 1985)
– MIPS, 32-bit (release year: 1985)
– Alpha, 64-bit (release year: 1992)
– PowerPC, 32-bit (release year: 1992)
– ARMv4, 32-bit (release year: 1996)
– IA-64, 64-bit (release year: 2001)
– ARMv6, 32-bit (release year: 2001)
– x86-64, 64-bit (release year: 2003)
– ARMv8-A, 64-bit (release year: 2013)
Older processor families use a wide variety of word sizes:
– Zuse Z3, 22-bit, year: 1941
– IBM 701, 36-bit, year: 1952
– PDP-1, 18-bit, year: 1960
– IBM 7030, 64-bit, year: 1961
– UNIVAC III, 25-bit, year: 1962
– IBM 360, 32-bit, year: 1965
– UNIVAC 1108, 36-bit, year: 1965
– PDP-8, 12 bits, year: 1965
– PDP-11 16 bits, year: 1970
Related:
&bull 32 bit
&bull 64 bit
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Alegsa.com.ar (2018). word definition – ALEGSA 2018-10-26 url: https:///Dic/palabra.php
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