32-bit vs 64-bit for C++ project

[leoalvesmachado]

Hi folks

I'm developing a project in C++ and I want to get the best performance possible. My software code should be platform independent, so I can run it in any OS. My knowledge about hardware is almost "null", so I came here to ask a newbie question
Today, I am compiling the project only for 32 bit machines, forcing the OS of 64 bit machines to translate the compiled instructions.

My question is: This approach I've chosen (compile only in 32 bit) impacts the performance negatively if I run it in a 64 bit machine? Is so, would it be slower than a 32 bit machine (completely equivalent machine, but 32 bit), or it would have the same speed?


Thanks in advance for your attention

 

[captaincranky]

I really know almost nothing about this, so fools rush in. A 64 bit computer is a 32 bit computer until something tells it it isn't. So, many programs are 32 bit and a 64 bit deals with them as such. To the best of my very limited knowledge, you don't actually have to "force" a 64 bit machine to deal with 32 bit software, it does that natively.

As to speed of execution a 32 bit program would have slower execution speed than a 64 bit, all other things being equal.

With that said, probably a more important consideration is to write code that is capable of taking full advantage of the current crop of hyper threading and multi-core CPUs.

I think that multi-threading in a 32 bit program, would likely exceed single thread performance @ 64 bit.