The digitally controlled potentiometer is implemented using 255 resistive elements in a series array. Between each element are tap points connected to the wiper terminal through switches. The position of the wiper on the array is controlled by the user through the SPI bus interface. Each potentiometer has associated with it a volatile Wiper Counter Register (WCR) and 4 nonvolatile Data Registers (DR0:DR3) that can be directly written to and read by the user. The contents of the WCR controls the position of the wiper on the resistor array though the switches. Power up recalls the contents of DR0 to the WCR. The XDCP can be used as a three-terminal potentiometer or as a two-terminal variable resistor in a wide variety of applications including control, parameter adjustments, and signal processing.