Building a Modern Computer from First Principles

I first attempted this 7 years ago, after I graduated college. I got through the first 2 chapters. It was extremely rewarding. But regrettably, I abandoned it for other side projects. I picked it up again 3 months ago, and it’s been a blast. I’m on chapter 8, having completed the logic gates, ALU, CPU, assembler, and half of the virtual machine. Every chapter is overwhelming — in a good way. I keep thinking to myself, “how the hell is…

You start with a simple Nand Gate, then build the hardware, ALU, RAM, assembler, compiler, OS and finally build the Tetris Game. Remember all this runs on your own self-designed computer — hardware + software, all your work! Awesome once in a lifetime experience project. Here's how it goes — You are just given a Nand Gate, you then construct other gates and complex logic from that Nand Gate. Then you build computer's basic processing and storage devices (ALU and…

I recommend the associated book[0] to everyone who asks me about programming book recommendations. The book arrives, and you are shocked at how small it is, just a few hundred pages. If you follow all of the exercises, you get an understanding of how logic works inside of processors (logic gates, adders, etc.), how machine code drives them, how assembly maps to machine code, how a basic virtual machine language (like the JVM) can compile to assembly, then how a…

This is the best online course I've ever done. Not only does it teach you loads, but it teaches you a much greater appreciation of the technology and it's really fun. I realise this sounds like an advert but honestly I cannot recommend it enough.