death code

death code
 n.

   A routine whose job is to set everything in the computer -- registers,
   memory, flags, everything -- to zero, including that portion of memory
   where it is running; its last act is to {stomp on} its own "store
   zero" instruction. Death code isn't very useful, but writing it is an
   interesting hacking challenge on architectures where the instruction
   set makes it possible, such as the PDP-8 (it has also been done on the
   DG Nova).

   Perhaps the ultimate death code is on the TI 990 series, where all
   registers are actually in RAM, and the instruction "store immediate 0"
   has the opcode "0". The PC will immediately wrap around core as many
   times as it can until a user hits HALT. Any empty memory location is
   death code. Worse, the manufacturer recommended use of this
   instruction in startup code (which would be in ROM and therefore
   survive).
    

death code

   A routine whose job is to set everything in the computer -
   {registers}, memory, flags - to zero, including that portion
   of memory where it is running; its last act is to stomp on its
   own "store zero" instruction.  Death code isn't very useful,
   but writing it is an interesting hacking challenge on
   architectures where the instruction set makes it possible,
   such as the {PDP-8} or the {Data General} {Nova}.

   Perhaps the ultimate death code is on the {TI 990} series,
   where all {registers} are actually in {RAM}, and the
   instruction "store immediate 0" has the {opcode} 0.  The
   {program counter} will immediately wrap around core as many
   times as it can until a user hits HALT.  Any empty memory
   location is death code.  Worse, the manufacturer recommended
   use of this instruction in startup code (which would be in
   {ROM} and therefore survive).

   [{Jargon File}]