2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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accumulator
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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n. obs. 1. Archaic term for a register. On-line use of it as a synonym for
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register is a fairly reliable indication that the user has been around for
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quite a while and/or that the architecture under discussion is quite old.
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The term in full is almost never used of microprocessor registers, for
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example, though symbolic names for arithmetic registers beginning in A
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derive from historical use of the term accumulator (and not, actually, from
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arithmetic ). Confusingly, though, an A register name prefix may also stand
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for address , as for example on the Motorola 680x0 family. 2. A register
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being used for arithmetic or logic (as opposed to addressing or a loop
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index), especially one being used to accumulate a sum or count of many
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items. This use is in context of a particular routine or stretch of code.
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The FOOBAZ routine uses A3 as an accumulator. 3. One's in-basket (esp. among
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old-timers who might use sense 1). You want this reviewed? Sure, just put it
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in the accumulator. (See stack.
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