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Computer Science
Key terms
Stored program concept

GCSE Computer Science · key term

Stored program concept

Definition

The principle that a program's instructions are held in memory so that the processor can fetch and execute them.

Used by OCR

How each exam board covers it

OCR GCSE Computer Science · J277

Paper 1

Keeping instructions in memory is called the stored program concept: the CPU can fetch a program's instructions from memory rather than having those instructions built permanently into its hardware.
Revise: Von Neumann Architecture

OCR Computer Science past papers

Related key terms

Accumulator (ACC)
Memory address
Memory Address Register (MAR)
Memory Data Register (MDR)
Program Counter (PC)

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Von Neumann architecture

Stored program concept — OCR GCSE Computer Science Definition | GradeGen