18 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
18 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>accumulator</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../A.html" title="A"/><link rel="previous" href="ABEND.html" title="ABEND"/><link rel="next" href="ACK.html" title="ACK"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">accumulator</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ABEND.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">A</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="ACK.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="accumulator"/><dt xmlns="" id="accumulator"><b>accumulator</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n. obs.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> 1. Archaic term for a register. On-line use of it as a synonym for
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<span class="firstterm">register</span> is a fairly reliable
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indication that the user has been around for quite a while and/or that the
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architecture under discussion is quite old. The term in full is almost
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never used of microprocessor registers, for example, though symbolic names
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for arithmetic registers beginning in ‘A’ derive from
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historical use of the term <span class="firstterm">accumulator</span> (and not, actually, from
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‘arithmetic’). Confusingly, though, an ‘A’
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register name prefix may also stand for <span class="firstterm">address</span>, as for example on the Motorola 680x0
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family. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. A register being used for arithmetic or logic (as opposed to
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addressing or a loop index), especially one being used to accumulate a sum
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or count of many items. This use is in context of a particular routine or
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stretch of code. “<span class="quote">The FOOBAZ routine uses A3 as an
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accumulator.</span>”</p></dd><dd><p> 3. One's in-basket (esp. among old-timers who might use sense 1).
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“<span class="quote">You want this reviewed? Sure, just put it in the
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accumulator.</span>” (See <a href="../S/stack.html"><i class="glossterm">stack</i></a>.)</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ABEND.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../A.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="ACK.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">ABEND<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>ACK</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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