1.1.2

Registers

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Registers of the Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Registers that have a predetermined purpose in the central processing unit are known as special purpose registers.

Illustrative background for Program Counter (PC)Illustrative background for Program Counter (PC) ?? "content

Program Counter (PC)

  • Holds the memory location address of the next instruction to be performed by the CPU.
  • The PC does not store the instruction itself.
Illustrative background for Accumulator (ACC)Illustrative background for Accumulator (ACC) ?? "content

Accumulator (ACC)

  • Holds the result of calculations and operations performed by the arithmetic logic unit (ALU).
Illustrative background for Memory Address Register (MAR)Illustrative background for Memory Address Register (MAR) ?? "content

Memory Address Register (MAR)

  • Holds the address of the location in memory where data is to be retrieved or stored.
Illustrative background for Memory Data Register (MDR)Illustrative background for Memory Data Register (MDR) ?? "content

Memory Data Register (MDR)

  • Holds the data that has been retrieved from memory, or that is about to be stored in memory.
Illustrative background for Current Instruction Register (CIR)Illustrative background for Current Instruction Register (CIR) ?? "content

Current Instruction Register (CIR)

  • The Current Instruction Register (CIR) is used to store the current instruction that the CPU is working on.

Jump to other topics

1Components of a Computer

2Software & Software Development

3Exchanging Data

4Data Types, Data Structures & Algorithms

5Legal, Moral, Cultural & Ethical Issues

6Elements of Computational Thinking

6.1Thinking Abstractly

6.2Thinking Ahead

6.3Thinking Procedurally

6.4Thinking Logically

6.5Thinking Concurrently

7Problem Solving & Programming

8Algorithms

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