3 ms·

Lots of comments denigrating this demonstration. I'd like to say that as someone who understands some fundamental things like AND/NOT/OR etc only at a high leve

by geuis 16y ago

Lots of comments denigrating this demonstration. I'd like to say that as someone who understands some fundamental things like AND/NOT/OR etc only at a high level, its very illuminating to see how the math is implemented in hardware. You have to remember that 30-40 years ago people were building entire businesses building computers by knowing this stuff and wiring everything together by hand. Many younger folks now have little to no idea how the devices they use every day work at a fundamental level, and its videos like this that could let a young hacker-to-be pick up a few parts inexpensively and easily wire up their own basic logic circuits. Its this kind of hands-on education that helps curious people learn and explore.

marshray 16y ago
Well, 30 years ago was 1981 and the IBM PC was kicking off that part of history. 40 years ago was 1971. There were still many commercial transistorized systems but most new designs were going to integrated circuits quickly. This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1401 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1401 is probably a representative example of the transitorized computer, produced from 1959 to 1971. It's a good bet that the people who designed it knew how to solder but were different from those who assembled it. They knew the transistors, but probably designed it in terms of higher-level blocks of logic (adders, memory, etc). Not many people have designed and built full computers from scratch at the transistor level. Enthusiasts didn't really get into it until microprocessors were available. Even then, they required hundreds of solder connections to be able to even use lights and switches for IO. Fun times.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  NAND to Tetris -- build your own computer system from NAND gates on up to your own Object Oriented language, operating system, and simple games. Just doing this one course to tie together a Computer Science education puts you a step ahead of 50% of the coders out there. http://www.catonmat.net/blog/video-lecture-from-nand-to-tetris-in-12-steps/ http://www.catonmat.net/blog/video-lecture-from-nand-to-tetr...
  - marshray 16y ago
    When I was a kid, my hero was David L. Heiserman. http://www.beam-wiki.org/wiki/Heiserman,_David_L http://www.beam-wiki.org/wiki/Heiserman,_David_L. His book "Build Your Own Working Robot" (ISBN 0-8306-6841-1) I must have read a hundred times. It wasn't quite as low as transistor logic, but it was designed from discrete logic gates. I also remember him writing "How to design & build your own custom TV games", which was basically NAND to Pong, without a CPU.

by geuis 16y ago

marshray 16y ago

Well, 30 years ago was 1981 and the IBM PC was kicking off that part of history. 40 years ago was 1971. There were still many commercial transistorized systems but most new designs were going to integrated circuits quickly. This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1401 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1401 is probably a representative example of the transitorized computer, produced from 1959 to 1971. It's a good bet that the people who designed it knew how to solder but were different from those who assembled it. They knew the transistors, but probably designed it in terms of higher-level blocks of logic (adders, memory, etc). Not many people have designed and built full computers from scratch at the transistor level. Enthusiasts didn't really get into it until microprocessors were available. Even then, they required hundreds of solder connections to be able to even use lights and switches for IO. Fun times.

stcredzero 16y ago
NAND to Tetris -- build your own computer system from NAND gates on up to your own Object Oriented language, operating system, and simple games. Just doing this one course to tie together a Computer Science education puts you a step ahead of 50% of the coders out there. http://www.catonmat.net/blog/video-lecture-from-nand-to-tetris-in-12-steps/ http://www.catonmat.net/blog/video-lecture-from-nand-to-tetr...
- marshray 16y ago
  When I was a kid, my hero was David L. Heiserman. http://www.beam-wiki.org/wiki/Heiserman,_David_L http://www.beam-wiki.org/wiki/Heiserman,_David_L. His book "Build Your Own Working Robot" (ISBN 0-8306-6841-1) I must have read a hundred times. It wasn't quite as low as transistor logic, but it was designed from discrete logic gates. I also remember him writing "How to design & build your own custom TV games", which was basically NAND to Pong, without a CPU.