Question

The program counter in a computer is a special purpose register which contains

• A. The instruction being executed
• B. The address of the instruction being executed
• C. The next instruction to be executed
• D. The address of the next instruction to be executed

Hint:

PC always points to next instruction, not current one.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Separate two registers that are easy to confuse.
Students often mix up the Program Counter and the Instruction Register, but they store very different things. The Instruction Register holds the actual instruction that is currently being executed.
Step 2: Focus on what the Program Counter really holds.
The Program Counter does not hold an instruction at all, it holds a memory address, specifically the address where the CPU should fetch its next instruction from.
Step 3: Trace it through the fetch cycle.
During fetch, the CPU reads the address stored in the PC, retrieves the instruction from that memory location, and then automatically increments the PC so it points to the following instruction, ready for the next cycle.
\[ \boxed{\text{the address of the next instruction to be executed}} \]