Is building for win32 the same as x86 in Visual Studio?

Question

So my boss asked me to test code on VS2012(x86) and VS2012(x64) redistributable package, but when I look at the configuration manager>platforms... the only options on testing VS2012 are x64 and Win32.

So my question is when I build my code with Win32, is that the same as building for x86?

Answer 1

Yes. Win32 was the name used in old versions of VS, before 64-bit processors where available. Back when it could also build 16-bit DOS and Windows 3.x programs, Win32 distinguished targeting Windows 9x and Windows NT.

Picking "x86" would not have been a good choice back then, those 16-bit programs also ran on a x86 processor. It only recently became synonymous with "32-bits". They just never changed it.

Answer 2

So my question is when I build my code with Win32, is that the same as building for on x86?

Yes. In this context x86 is synonymous with Win32.