As memory was very small, 8-bits, or 256 unique addresses, were enough.

The early computers allocated a single Byte for pointers to memory chunks. Such an address is a number, also known as a pointer. In computers architecture, data is arranged in chunks of memory spaces, each has a unique address by which it can be referenced. Now we can represent 65,536 unique characters (2 to the power of 16) in a space of two Bytes. You can see that all possible combinations using a single Byte (8 bits) ends pretty fast at 256, therefore we combine 2 Bytes together, giving us a total of 16 bits to play with. For example, we can decide that a single Byte that looks like this: 00000011 represents the number 3. In order to represent meaningful data (such as your name), many bits are combined together (8 bits are called a Byte) and each combination of their state is designated a specific meaning. What are these 32-bit and 64-bit anyway?Īs I explain and demonstrate in my flagship course: Computer Programming with Excel VBA, a bit is the atomic data-representation element in computing, with two possible states: 0 and 1. These improvements follow the architectural improvements in the underlying Hardware. The most important changes are the introduction of the Windows 32-bit and the Office 32-bit (in 1994) and then Windows 64-bit and Office 64-bit (in 2010). Same goes for the MS-Office suite, of which Excel is a part of. Some core changes in its architecture inevitably sent shock waves throughout all programs designed to run on it. Over time, the Windows operating system has evolved. Why are there compatibility issues when running Excel VBA code on different machines? However, breaking the tight Excel environment is also subject to some compatibility issues. Leveraging external functions to Excel is great, especially considering the vast variety of functions the Windows operating system offers. In last week’s Blog post, I explained and demonstrated how Windows functions libraries, or DLLs, can be called from VBA.

Are office 32bit and 64bit compatible