Program counter

The program counter is an important register of a computer’s processor. It is used by the processor to keep track of its current location in its instruction set when sequentially executing a program. The program counter is used by the processor to refer to the next instruction to be executed. In some processors, program counter may also contain the address of the currently executing instruction, instead of that of the next instruction.

Program counter is also referred to as instruction pointer since it points to the current instruction. Program counter has a memory address which is written in machine language. That address is called the program counter instruction. Usually, the pointer is incremented after each instruction, so that it points to the next instruction to be executed. A jump instruction will change the contents of the program counter to another memory address.

The program counter register can be implemented in various ways, depending on the instruction set of the computer’s architecture. The basic principle of program counter is the same regardless of the implementation. In many cases, the program counter is a dedicated register within the processor. In some architectures, the program counter is part of a family of registers which can also be used as index registers. The size of the program counter can vary, depending on the address width of the processor’s architecture.

Program counter is an important concept in computer programming. It is used in assembly language instructions, high-level language instructions, and even compiler generated object code. Program counter is also used in many other techniques, such as pipeline processing and the study of sequentially executed instructions.