accumulator n. obs.
1. Archaic term for a register. On-line
use of it as a synonym for `register' is a fairly reliable
indication that the user has been around for quite a while and/or
that the architecture under discussion is quite old. The term in
full is almost never used of microprocessor registers, for example,
though symbolic names for arithmetic registers beginning in `A'
derive from historical use of the term `accumulator' (and not,
actually, from `arithmetic'). Confusingly, though, an `A'
register name prefix may also stand for `address', as for
example on the Motorola 680x0 family. 2. A register being used for
arithmetic or logic (as opposed to addressing or a loop index),
especially one being used to accumulate a sum or count of many
items. This use is in context of a particular routine or stretch
of code. "The FOOBAZ routine uses A3 as an accumulator."
3. One's in-basket (esp. among old-timers who might use sense 1).
"You want this reviewed? Sure, just put it in the accumulator."
(See stack.)
1. Archaic term for a register. On-line
use of it as a synonym for `register' is a fairly reliable
indication that the user has been around for quite a while and/or
that the architecture under discussion is quite old. The term in
full is almost never used of microprocessor registers, for example,
though symbolic names for arithmetic registers beginning in `A'
derive from historical use of the term `accumulator' (and not,
actually, from `arithmetic'). Confusingly, though, an `A'
register name prefix may also stand for `address', as for
example on the Motorola 680x0 family. 2. A register being used for
arithmetic or logic (as opposed to addressing or a loop index),
especially one being used to accumulate a sum or count of many
items. This use is in context of a particular routine or stretch
of code. "The FOOBAZ routine uses A3 as an accumulator."
3. One's in-basket (esp. among old-timers who might use sense 1).
"You want this reviewed? Sure, just put it in the accumulator."
(See stack.)
Related:
- accumulator: n. 1. Archaic term for a register. On-line use of it
as a synonym for `register' is a fairly reliable indication that
the user has been around for quite a while and/or that the
architecture under discussion is quite old.
The term in full is almost never used of microprocessor... - moby /moh'bee/
[MIT: seems to have been in use among
model railroad fans years ago.
Derived from Melville's "Moby Dick" (some say from... - bug n.
An unwanted and unintended property of a program or
piece of hardware,
esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym... - metasyntactic variable n.
A name used in examples and
understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion,
or any random member of a class of things under... - random adj.
1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical
definition);
weird. "The system's been behaving pretty randomly... - software rot n.
Term used to describe the tendency of
software that has not been used in a while to lose;
such failure may be semi-humorously ascribed to... - English
1. n. obs. The source code for a program,
which may be in any language, as opposed to the... - English: 1. n.,obs. The source code for a program, which may be in
any language,
as opposed to the linkable or executable binary ... - flat adj.
1. [common] Lacking any complex internal
structure.
"That bitty box has only a flat filesystem, not a ...
