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16-bit computing

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This article is about 16-bit computer architecture. For the color encoding, see high color. For the video gaming era, see fourth generation of video game consoles. For other uses, see 16-bit (disambiguation).
Computer architecture bit widths
Bit
Application
Binary floating-point precision
Decimal floating-point precision

In computer architecture, 16-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 16 bits (2 octets) wide. Also, 16-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. 16-bit microcomputers are computers that use 16-bit microprocessors.

A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two most common representations, the range is 0 through 65,535 (216 − 1) for representation as an (unsigned) binary number, and −32,768 (−1 × 215) through 32,767 (215 − 1) for representation as two's complement. Since 216 is 65,536, a processor with 16-bit memory addresses can directly access 64 KB (65,536 bytes) of byte-addressable memory. If a system uses segmentation with 16-bit segment offsets, more can be accessed.

16-bit architecture

|Kya kar lega jan ke?? Kya 16 bit pocessor teri 2 time ki bhuk mita payega?? |Nahi na... |To kyu kr raha hai? |Chod de ye sab.. tu iske liye nahi bana hai |Ters dil jo keh raha hai use sun

16-bit application

In the context of IBM PC compatible and Wintel platforms, a 16-bit application is any software written for MS-DOS, OS/2 1.x or early versions of Microsoft Windows which originally ran on the 16-bit Intel 8088 and Intel 80286 microprocessors. Such applications used a 20-bit or 24-bit segment or selector-offset address representation to extend the range of addressable memory locations beyond what was possible using only 16-bit addresses. Programs containing more than 216 bytes (65,536 bytes) of instructions and data therefore required special instructions to switch between their 64-kilobyte segments, increasing the complexity of programming 16-bit applications.

List of 16-bit CPUs

See also

References

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