Note from a donor

[Dmitry Olshansky]

On Tuesday, 31 October 2017 at 01:25:31 UTC, Adam D Ruppe wrote:
> On Tuesday, 31 October 2017 at 01:00:29 UTC, codephantom wrote:
>> If you play with large databases, containing a lot data, then 
>> 64-bit memory addressing will give you access to more memory.
>
> That doesn't really matter. If you're IMPLEMENTING the 
> database, sure it can help (but is still not *necessary*),

Kinda important, say your server is 128Gb (bugger sizes are quite 
typical these days).

>  but if you're just playing with it, let the database engine 
> handle that and just query the bits you are actually interested 
> in.
>
> People have been working with huge, HUGE databases in 32 bit 
> programs for years.
>

Ah ye, we can do the same in 16 bits with ample 640k bytes. Just 
window your dataset in 64k at a time, trivial. There are 
advantages in bigger size of virtual address space even if you 
use tiny fraction of physical memory.

>
>
> There are advantages to 64 bit, but you can live without them.

I can live without hot water in my house, would I?

> A 32 bit program can do most the same stuff.

Client applications probably do not care much. Servers and 
cluster software can use more RAM and take advantage of huge 
address space in many interesting ways.