One common programming “pattern” is to traverse a sequence, accumulating a value as we go, such as the sum-so-far or the maximum-so-far. The anatomy of the accumulation pattern includes: … initializing an “accumulator” variable to an initial value (such as 0 if accumulating a sum)

What is an accumulator in programming?

An accumulator is a register for short-term, intermediate storage of arithmetic and logic data in a computer’s CPU (central processing unit). … Once the sum has been determined, it is written to the main memory or to another register.

What is a accumulator value?

An accumulator is a type of register included in a CPU. … Intermediate results of an operation are progressively written to the accumulator, overwriting the previous value. For example, in the operation “3 + 4 + 5,” the accumulator would hold the value 3, then the value 7, then the value 12.