Datasheet
Glossary
2013 Microchip Technology Inc. DS52085A-page 143
File Registers
On-chip data memory, including GPRs and SFRs.
Filter
Determine by selection what data is included/excluded in a trace display or data file.
Flash
A type of EEPROM where data is written or erased in blocks instead of bytes.
FNOP
Forced No Operation. A forced NOP cycle is the second cycle of a two-cycle instruc-
tion. Since the PIC microcontroller architecture is pipelined, it prefetches the next
instruction in the physical address space while it is executing the current instruction.
However, if the current instruction changes the PC, this prefetched instruction is explic-
itly ignored, causing an FNOP cycle.
Frame Pointer
A pointer that references the location on the stack that separates the stack-based
arguments from the stack-based local variables. Provides a convenient base from
which to access local variables and other values for the current function.
Free-Standing
An implementation that accepts any strictly conforming program that does not use
complex types and in which the use of the features specified in the library clause (ANSI
‘89 standard clause 7) is confined to the contents of the standard headers <float.h>,
<iso646.h>, <limits.h>, <stdarg.h>, <stdbool.h>, <stddef.h> and
<stdint.h>.
GPR
General Purpose Register. The portion of device data memory (RAM) available for
general use.
Halt
A stop of program execution. Executing Halt is the same as stopping at a breakpoint.
Header, Debug
A circuit board containing a special debug device (-ICE/-ICD) used with in-circuit
debuggers and emulators to debug application code. For low pin count devices,
resources can be recovered when using a debug header. See the Header Board
Specification (DS51292) for details.
Heap
An area of memory used for dynamic memory allocation where blocks of memory are
allocated and freed in an arbitrary order determined at runtime.
Hex Code
Executable instructions stored in a hexadecimal format code. Hex code is contained in
a hex file.
Hex File
An ASCII file containing hexadecimal addresses and values (hex code) suitable for
programming a device.
Hexadecimal
The base 16 numbering system that uses the digits 0-9 plus the letters A-F (or a-f). The
digits A-F represent hexadecimal digits with values of (decimal) 10 to 15. The rightmost
digit counts ones (16
0
), the next counts multiples of 16 (16
1
), the next counts multiples
of 256 (16
2
), etc.