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more about accumulator
accumulator |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Accumulator \Ac*cu"mu*la`tor\, n. [L.] 1. One who or that which accumulates, collects, or amasses. 2. (Mech.) An apparatus by means of which energy or power can be stored, such as the cylinder or tank for storing water for hydraulic elevators, the secondary or storage battery used for accumulating the energy of electrical charges, etc 3. A system of elastic springs for relieving the strain upon a rope, as in deep-sea dredging. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: accumulator n 1: a person who is employed to collect payments (as for rent or taxes) [syn: {collector}, {gatherer}] 2: a battery that stores electric charge [syn: {storage battery}] From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: 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}.) From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: accumulatorIn a {central processing unit}, a {register} in which intermediate results are stored. Without an accumulator, it would be necessary to write the result of each calculation (addition, multiplication, {shift}, etc.) to {main memory} and read them back Access to main memory is slower than access to the accumulator which usually has direct paths to and from the {arithmetic and logic unit} (ALU). The {canonical} example is summing a list of numbers. The accumulator is set to zero initially, each number in turn is added to the value in the accumulator and only when all numbers have been added is the result written to main memory. Modern CPUs usually have many registers, all or many of which can be used as accumulators. For this reason, the term accumulator" is somewhat archaic. 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, memory location or variable 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." [{Jargon File}] (1999-04-20)
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