In computer science, a NOP, no-op, or NOOP (pronounced "no op"; short for no operation) is an assembly language instruction, programming language statement, or computer protocol command that does nothing.
== Machine language instructions ==
Some computer instruction sets include an instruction whose explicit purpose is to not change the state of any of the programmer-accessible registers, status flags, or memory. It often takes a well-defined number of clock cycles to execute. In other instruction sets, a NOP can be simulated by executing an instruction having operands that cause the same effect...