NVIDIA Interview Question for Software Engineer / Developers






Comment hidden because of low score. Click to expand.
2
of 2 vote

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit

# 64-bit refers to the number of bits that make up the structure of various parts of a processor’s architecture. These structures usually include the data bus, address bus, and internal registers.

# Memory-mapped files are becoming more difficult to implement in 32-bit architectures, especially due to the introduction of relatively cheap recordable DVD technology. A 4 GB file is no longer uncommon, and such large files cannot be memory mapped easily to 32-bit architectures; only a region of the file can be mapped into the address space, and to access such a file by memory mapping, those regions will have to be mapped into and out of the address space as needed. This is a problem, as memory mapping remains one of the most efficient disk-to-memory methods, when properly implemented by the OS.

# Some programs such as data encryption software can benefit greatly from 64-bit registers (if the software is 64-bit compiled) and effectively execute 3 to 5 times faster on 64-bit than on 32-bit.

# The main disadvantage of 64-bit architectures is that relative to 32-bit architectures the same data occupies more space in memory (due to swollen pointers and possibly other types and alignment padding). This increases the memory requirements of a given process and can have implications for efficient processor cache utilization. The ability of 64-bit applications to access a larger physical and virtual memory space means that address tables are larger and can result in a larger data-transaction overhead. As a result, small or repetitive tasks may run marginally slower than in a 32-bit environment.

- googler August 13, 2009 | Flag Reply
Comment hidden because of low score. Click to expand.
0
of 0 votes

Thanks this was helpful!

- Radz March 04, 2010 | Flag
Comment hidden because of low score. Click to expand.
0
of 0 votes

Thanks this was helpful

- Anonymous January 31, 2011 | Flag
Comment hidden because of low score. Click to expand.
0
of 0 votes

- Thanks. For our courageous engineers; lets enclosed a 64 - 32 modulator realizing the best of both worlds.

Glenn (gtk@gmx.com)

- piBoss May 08, 2011 | Flag
Comment hidden because of low score. Click to expand.
0
of 0 vote

Also, improperly written 32-bit applications will need to be ported to 64-bit since a mere re-compile does not suffice. As an example, consider a naive implementation of 'reverse all bits in a word' where the implementation is a loop hard-coded to run from 0 to 31. Or a

- Anonymous January 13, 2010 | Flag Reply
Comment hidden because of low score. Click to expand.
0
of 0 votes

Are there any alignment issues when porting a 32bit application to 64 bit?

- Anonymous January 26, 2010 | Flag


Add a Comment
Name:

Writing Code? Surround your code with {{{ and }}} to preserve whitespace.

Books

is a comprehensive book on getting a job at a top tech company, while focuses on dev interviews and does this for PMs.

Learn More

Videos

CareerCup's interview videos give you a real-life look at technical interviews. In these unscripted videos, watch how other candidates handle tough questions and how the interviewer thinks about their performance.

Learn More

Resume Review

Most engineers make critical mistakes on their resumes -- we can fix your resume with our custom resume review service. And, we use fellow engineers as our resume reviewers, so you can be sure that we "get" what you're saying.

Learn More

Mock Interviews

Our Mock Interviews will be conducted "in character" just like a real interview, and can focus on whatever topics you want. All our interviewers have worked for Microsoft, Google or Amazon, you know you'll get a true-to-life experience.

Learn More