system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why do we need to compile separate 32 and 64 bit versions?

Can't the CPU run 32 bit instructions and vice versa? Or at least simulate it?
gpt
Sure, and one cpu does just that. But 64-bit code has several advantages. For one the address space is bigger, so you aren't limited to using only 4 gigs (in practice closer to 2 gigs) of ram and can use up to terabytes of ram for a single process if you want. For another the 64 bit instruction set is a bit better and more "powerful" in general. There are more registers, for example, and this enables 64-bit programs to achieve higher performance on the same cpu.