In 32-bit mode, references are four bytes, allowing the JVM to uniquely address 2^32 bytes of memory. 32-bit really boils down to the size of object references, not the size of numbers. I'm sure I'm missing something here besides not being able to install a 64 bit JRE onto a 32 bit system.Ħ4-bit vs. same with float being 32 bits and double is 64 bits - so is it just that Java has abstracted even this subtlety away, and perhaps has been '64 bit compatible' all along? and I do know that int is a 32 bits and long is 64 bits. 32bit - it really boils down to how the numbers are stored underneath the covers. In my day-to-day programming, I do not recall ever having to change something or think about something in a different way just because I was using the 64bit JRE (or targetting the 64bit JRE for that respect).įrom my understanding of 64bit vs.

This prompted an unusual question today, does it matter if I use the 32bit or 64bit JRE bundle?įrom thinking back on it, I've installed both versions before and my normal toolchain plugs happily in (Eclipse). I've been using Java for a while now, and my typical ritual of setting up a new dev machine requires the norm of downloading and installing the latest JDK from Oracle's site.

Download java 1.7.0_79 64-bit