What is the role of the program counter in process execution?

The program counter plays a crucial role in the execution of processes by indicating the address of the next instruction to execute. This is essential for ensuring that the processor knows where to fetch the next instruction from memory during program execution. As the instructions are processed, the program counter is updated sequentially to point to the subsequent instruction, allowing for the proper flow of control in program execution.

When a process is running, the program counter enables it to maintain the correct sequence of actions, facilitating the orderly execution of instructions. This precision is critical in multitasking environments where multiple processes may be active simultaneously; the accurate management of the program counter ensures that each process can effectively continue or resume execution at the appropriate point.