This might seem like a roundabout way to start, but I'd recommend Code by Charles Petzold[0]. It starts out with just wires, switches, and relays, and as the b

This might seem like a roundabout way to start, but I'd recommend Code by Charles Petzold[0]. It starts out with just wires, switches, and relays, and as the book progresses he goes through the process of building up a simple CPU and RAM one step at a time. The book even walks you through coming up with opcodes and assembly language. Even if you already know this stuff, I found the book was helpful in developing an intuitive feel for how everything works and fits together. After reading it, you'd probably have a good mental model of how you'd want to approach writing an emulator. The Nand to Tetris courses and their accompanying textbook would probably be helpful here too[1][2]. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Software/dp/0735611319 https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softw... [1] https://www.coursera.org/learn/build-a-computer https://www.coursera.org/learn/build-a-computer [2] https://www.coursera.org/learn/nand2tetris2 https://www.coursera.org/learn/nand2tetris2