Program Counter
Q.1: Can the program counter be modified?
Answer:
Yes, the program counter can be modified by certain instructions or events during program execution(prosecution). For illustration, raying instructions can change the program counter to deflect the inflow of prosecution to a different part of the program.
Q.2: What happens when the program counter is modified?
Answer:
When the program counter is modified, the central processing unit( CPU) will cost the instruction from the new address specified by the modified program counter. This allows for non-sequential execution(prosecution) and enables features like circles, conditionals, and function calls in programming languages.
Q.3: Is the program counter the same as a memory address?
Answer:
No , The program counter points to the coming instruction to be executed, whereas a memory address refers to a specific position in memory where data or instructions are stored.
Q.4: Can the program counter go backwards?
Answer:
In utmost cases, the program counter moves forward in a successful manner. still, there are certain instructions, similar as circles or jumps, that can beget the program counter to move backward or to a different position in memory.
Q.5: What happens if the program counter points to an invalid address?
Answer:
still, it can lead to a program crash or an error, If the program counter points to an invalid address. The central processing unit( CPU) may essay to cost an instruction from an invalid memory position, performing in undetermined behavior or an exception.
What is Program Counter?
Many complex components come together to make a computer system work seamlessly. One such essential element is the program counter. There is a register in a PC (program counter) processor that contains the address of the next instruction to be executed from memory.
In this article we learn what program counter is, how it works and many more. So, let’s start –
Before going to the direct topic, let us discuss some primary terminologies such as: