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There aren't many reasons to use 64bit if your program doesn't use much memory so if you stick with 32bit your program will use less memory (64bit pointers are

There aren't many reasons to use 64bit if your program doesn't use much memory so if you stick with 32bit your program will use less memory (64bit pointers are mostly a waste of space) and run in more systems (those that for one reason or another cannot run 64bit code - note that this isn't just the CPU not being 64bit capable, firmware could also prevent 64bit support and some low end machines with 2GB of RAM could also come with 32bit Windows preinstalled which save both disk space - no 64bit libraries - and RAM).

CydeWeys 7y ago
End of support for 32 bit seems like a pretty damn good reason not to use it, I must say. It's better and simpler overall if everything is on the same page and you don't have to worry about compatibility issues; this gives more benefit than whatever marginal benefit exists for allowing small programs to run more memory efficiently.
- badsectoracula 7y ago
  My comment was about 32 bit code in general, not just about Ubuntu. There is no end of 32 bit support, neither on Windows nor on Linux (the kernel itself can run even on a 486 IIRC) and AFAIK even macOS can still run 32 bit code. Of course individual distributions like Ubuntu can drop 32 bit support (and personally i do not see it as much of an issue since you can switch distributions and Valve can simply recommend one that doesn't arbitrarily break their users' programs), but that is just the distribution doing it. The kernel can still run 32bit code and with enough effort even 19.10 will be able to run 32bit programs, the whole hubbub is about avoiding that effort.