program counter

1 definition found

program counter - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  program counter
  
     <hardware> (PC, or "instruction address register") A
     register in the central processing unit that contains the
     addresss of the next instruction to be executed.  The PC is
     automatically incremented after each instruction is fetched to
     point to the following instruction.  It is not normally
     manipulated like an ordinary register but instead, special
     instructions are provided to alter the flow of control by
     writing a new value to the PC, e.g. JUMP, CALL, RTS.
  
     (1995-03-21)