__int64 on a 32-Bit machine?

Question

I just tried something in MSVC 2010 on my 32-bit machine here and found out that I can use __int64 in my programs - which actually work!

• How is that possible?<

Answer 1

32 bits are merely the native size of a machine word, meaning they can be processed in one go, it does not mean that larger items can't be processed at all, they just need to be processed as separate 32-bit units in multiple steps, in the same way they can be smaller than a machine word, in which case merely a portion of the full machine word will be processed.