title: word size and data bus
body: <p>I am confused about <strong>the definition of word size</strong>. I read that the word size of a processor is its data bus width. Like an 8 bit processor has an 8 bit wide data bus. I recently read that the maximum size of the virtual address space is determined by word size i.e. if the word size is n bits the max virtual address space is 2^n -1. But I always thought that maximum virtual address space is determined by address bus width i.e. an n bits wide address bus can address maximum 2^n bytes. So, <strong>what is true?</strong> </p>
  
  <p>Also, is this related to <strong>pointers</strong> as an n bit data bus is capable of carrying only an n bit address. So, maximum 2^n bytes can be accessed via pointers.</p>