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16-Year-Old Creates Scientific/Graphing Calculator In Minecraft

Posted by Soulskill on from the holy-smokes dept.

New submitter petval tips another amazing Minecraft project: a functioning scientific/graphing calculator. "On a virtual scale, the functional device is enormous — enough so that anyone in the real world would become a red blot of meat and bone staining the road if they fell from the very top. Honestly, his virtual machine looks more like a giant cargo ship ripped from a sci-fi movie than a working calculator. Yet type your problem out on the keypad, and the answer appears on a large white display mounted on the side of the monstrous brick structure." The creator says it can do "6-digit addition and subtraction, 3-digit multiplication, division and trigonometric/scientific functions ... Graphing y=mx+c functions, quadratic functions, and equation solving of the form mx+c=0." We've previously discussed the creation of a 16-bit ALU in Minecraft.

160 comments

  1. 16-year-old kids have too much free time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    should be prepping for psat or sat...

    1. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Now we know what the /. editors did during high school english class.

    2. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think a kid who has the ability to create this in Minecraft will be having too much trouble with their SATs...

    3. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well, not the math part anyhow. That english stuff..man, he's fsck'ed!

    4. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by hairyfeet · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      No crap but I bet he is bored to tears in class every damned day! I absolutely HATED public school because it was strictly lowest common denominator, I even had a teacher accuse me of cheating simply because I was better at basic math than he was without having to go through all those stupid steps. the best thing that ever happened to me was a damned dog getting into the spokes of my motorbike at 60MPH because it got me home tutors through the junior HS years because the tutor took one look at the books I was reading like the wonderful "Best sci/fi and horror writers of the year" series and instead of the stupid crap they were teaching in school Ms Edwards had me discussing the pros and cons of grandfather paradoxes and skipped the whole stupid "show your work" crap which just slowed me down.

      Sadly some administrator decided 'its not good for him to be isolated like that" and forced me to go to HS. What happened? the first day i got sent to detention because some jarheaded teacher said "Anybody not will to run 10 laps just get out of my class' so myself followed by half the class promptly left, and the football coach took one look at the books I was reading in his detention and for the next 4 years i was given all As even though I never actually attended any classes, how did I do that? simple the coach took me to each class and said "He is in your class, mark him as present and give him an A on all work as he'll be on "special assignment"" which turned out to be running my own class for 4 years teaching jocks how to pass the minimums required to play ball. Turns out over the years I've met several from neighboring "football schools' that had the same "special assignment" as me and all were very bright students that the schools basically didn't know what to do with. I figure I learned more teaching those jocks than the dumbed down classes they taught anyway.

      So while this kid will probably have a kick ass career I do NOT envy him ATM, his life is probably equal parts boredom and frustration if he is in the public school system. I ended up giving my two boys home schooling after seeing that public schools had gotten even worse than when I was there, there was bigotry, indifference, and even religious whackos, and we are talking about the teachers. Frankly I wouldn't wish the US public school system on my worst enemy as if you are not lucky enough to be in one of the few upper class ritzy neighborhoods frankly the schools just suck. Good luck kid, just keep your head down and remember that college is just around the corner where the smart CAN get ahead.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    5. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He will forever be a virgin though.

    6. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by ae1294 · · Score: 3, Funny

      But in minecraft HE IS GOD!

    7. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Pseudonym+Authority · · Score: 5, Insightful

      skipped the whole stupid "show your work" crap which just slowed me down

      You really do need to show your work. It's not an issue for 25+13, but for any real problem it is essential. Try doing vector calculus without showing any work. It doesn't make you smart if you can, it makes you stupid to try. The work is a proof that validates your answer. Not showing the work in math is like not supporting any of your conclusions with arguments in philosophy. That's why they try to train kids to do it early.

      Honestly, if your tutor didn't realize that, then she was a pretty terrible teacher.

    8. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by JoeMerchant · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Agreed... however, it's a sad fact of life that only 16 year olds have enough free time to do stuff like this.

    9. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by frup · · Score: 5, Funny

      Next step: Minecraft fleshlight.

    10. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Intropy · · Score: 1

      Lowest common denominator or greatest common divisor?

    11. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But they usually get burned out in College. They are so used to having everything easy that when they start taking hard classes they don't know how to deal with failure.

    12. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by TheLink · · Score: 5, Funny

      I have a truly remarkable rebuttal to your argument that your mind is too small to contain.

      --
    13. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm sure that whoever ends up supporting the systems you didn't bother to document properly because "it's obvious" will wish you eternal damnation.

      PS: It'll be you, 2 or 3 years after you made the system.

    14. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by nu1x · · Score: 1

      Ouch ! That would hurt.

      --
      I have nothing to lose but my bindings.
    15. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by RussellSHarris · · Score: 1

      Hard classes? Bah. It wasn't the hard classes that got me. It was the stupid and/or pointless ones. I got As in calculus and physics, and an F in music appreciation. (I learned my lesson and took a class in digital media instead - PhotoShop, Flash, and iMovie. At least then I was learning stuff that I could actually find a use for. I still tinker in GIMP quite frequently.)

      The hardest classes that I had to take were the advanced circuits classes, and those were B grades in classes that most students took more than once before passing. And I blame the instructor partly; brilliant guy, but he sucked at explaining why we did things the way that we did them. I still haven't the foggiest notion of how to calculate the amplification of a MOSFET or FET amplifier stage with feedback. There were two different formulas and I never understood why either formula applied, or why they had to be different.

    16. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by uglyduckling · · Score: 1

      Part of the skill is showing significant working, or developing some acronyms to show the obvious steps you took between steps. This is the problem with 'really bright' people who are also incredibly arrogant and not willing to play the game. I probably wasn't absolutely top academically, but not far off, and I managed to not get kicked out of school by just about hanging in there with the social niceties of convincing the teachers that I didn't just copy my answers from somewhere.

    17. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Rhacman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wholly agree and offer some additional examples.

      As a teachers assistant in college I tried to grade papers the way I would want to have my papers graded. If students had an answer that was wrong or off by a bit I could justify giving some points if prior steps showed proper application of the techniques being taught. If very few or no steps are shown then I may have limited or no basis to award partial credit. Additionally, if a student showed their work (clearly) then I could often help identify the step where they went astray and mark it as such. Not all graders or instructors go to these lengths, but without showing work you eliminate the possibility.

      As an engineer I still value when people show their work. The level of detail that should be shown will naturally vary but the burden of sifting through more detail will almost always outweigh the burden of not having enough. If a conclusion turns out to be false in a classroom you don't get credit. If a conclusion turns out to be false in the workplace you need to fix it. The amount of time it takes to troubleshoot the source of an error will generally be directly proportional to the amount of detail the engineer that came to that conclusion preserved in documentation.

      --
      Account -> Discussions -> Disable Sigs
    18. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by squidflakes · · Score: 1

      Pure musical notion is just another expression of mathematics while listening to music can be a wonderful way of understanding how waves interact. Just because it is considered an art doesn't mean it is somehow below the purity of math.

    19. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Canazza · · Score: 2

      This is pretty much required in the Scottish Education System for all teachers and for final exams. Atleast, when I was doing Standard Grade (16) and Highers (17-18) all of a decade ago.

      The standard line was "show your work, you get an extra mark for it and it's free. Everyone likes free stuff"

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    20. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by pimpsoftcom · · Score: 1

      .. in the shape of a Creeper.

      --
      - d
    21. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by RussellSHarris · · Score: 1

      It wasn't pure musical notation. (I was thinking along the same lines when I enrolled.) It was rote memorization of the names of dead people and the classical pieces which they had composed. I was bored, and got an F. And as I said, the art class was much more rewarding, so I'm glad I didn't just skid through with a passing grade in the class that I had hated.

    22. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by anyGould · · Score: 1

      This is the big one - there's no way to tell is "Oh, here's the answer" is because you're Oh So Very Smart And Intuitive or because You Stole the Answers From The Kid Next To You.

      Showing your work is how you prove that yes, you're oh so very smart. (Because if you can't explain your brilliant deductions, you're not as smart as you think you are).

    23. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As an engineer I still value when people show their work. The level of detail that should be shown will naturally vary but the burden of sifting through more detail will almost always outweigh the burden of not having enough. If a conclusion turns out to be false in a classroom you don't get credit. If a conclusion turns out to be false in the workplace you need to fix it. The amount of time it takes to troubleshoot the source of an error will generally be directly proportional to the amount of detail the engineer that came to that conclusion preserved in documentation.

      As an engineer it is *essential* to show your work. You need to provide justification for selection/path taken. It is extremely rare for there to be only one single path to take; in all other cases you need to describe why you did or chose what you chose, even if it means just stating why something is not a significant factor.
      The importance of this scales with the magnitude of the project and the number of people/entities involved.

    24. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by tibit · · Score: 1

      The steps can be in the head of the person who does the work. It's the answer that counts. The work is almost never a proof, because to be a proof even the most basic arithmetic would need to invoke all the axioms. A simple vector calculus problem done as a proof would take up a notebook, and good luck doing it by hand without using a proof assistant (say coq). There's a lot of math that is in common use but has never been presented formally enough to make it quick-and-easy in proofs. People are still working on formalizing it enough to be useful! See for example Journal of Formalized Mathematics. Whatever passes for a proof in high school and college is usually nowhere near a complete proof. Heck, many such proof are in fact incorrect -- they leave out many unspoken assumptions, and if you try to reproduce them under assumptions that look right to you, you fail. BTDT.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    25. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      But we are NOT talking about vector calc, that at least would have been interesting, no the douchebag teacher had a living shitfit because i wouldn't sit there and do the stupid 'carry the one' crap with large division and multiplication and even had the gall to accuse me of cheating because i could do it in my head faster than he could doing his little step crap!

      The ONLY thing that kept me from dropping out right there, because i had told him to take back his accusation or we were gonna have to step outside, was that my home tutor was in the class next door and called the principal and walked in between us. She turned to me and said "Hand me your calc watch" and then she put two long multiplication questions on the board and said "Alright Mr Black, you get one and he gets the other...GO!" and of course i blew through it in less than 20 seconds while he was still on his first line. so did he apologize? Nope it was then "Search him, he must have a hidden calc!". By that time the principal had seen enough and said "Ms Edwards do you think he'd be better off back in home tutoring?" and signed off for me to just go back home instead of trying to do half days which with the combo of the pain from the stitches and my total boredom was for the best anyway. And as I said when they finally forced me to go to HS instead of going to class i ran my own class teaching football players so it wasn't like school was gonna teach me anything, not in a "football school".

      the simple fact is this: they have NO idea what to do with extra bright kids if there isn't some sort of magnet program which there isn't in my area. the lowest IQ in my family is 130 by my late sis and the only reason she scored that low was she had been out at a party the night before and was wore out from dancing. Her two boys scored 152 and 148 and frankly we had to home school them because they were bored to tears. Public schools are only really good for those in the center of the bell curve, those on the ends are just frustrated. Honestly i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those with high grades that are constantly in trouble simply aren't frustrated like i was, as I'd do anything to get out of class so i could get back to my programming or Asimov.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    26. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      But if that person stood in front of the board and showed you yes, they very well could do it without the steps, would you have accepted that or called him a liar and a cheat? because i got the latter and damned near got kicked out as despite being held together by stitches me and the math teacher nearly came to blows. And please remember this was a "football school' so we aren't talking calc or trig here, we are talking bog simple 3 and 4 number division and multiplication.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    27. Re:16-year-old kids have too much free time by Rhacman · · Score: 1

      From an educational perspective, I would argue that showing steps should be directly related to the technique being taught. So for long division there should be a line showing each partial division step (or whatever you call it). For problems that utilize division, but where division isn't being taught, the steps might not be needed but it really comes down to the particular instructors teaching style.

      --
      Account -> Discussions -> Disable Sigs
  2. Amazing stuff by mmcxii · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is a really fantastic accomplishment. More than I've ever done in Minecraft.

    1. Re:Amazing stuff by The+Archon+V2.0 · · Score: 1

      More than most have done. More, indeed, than a billion flaming wool wangs.

    2. Re:Amazing stuff by blackpaw · · Score: 1

      Indeed. I don't know if I'll ever be able to play Minecraft again now :(

    3. Re:Amazing stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is a really fantastic accomplishment.

      True. And yet... #foreveralone

    4. Re:Amazing stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Minecraft? Yeah, check this out...I built an elevator for my own tree house!"

      (watches video)

      "....oh."

  3. Nicely done sir by schrodingersGato · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, if these games can get younger people interested in the concepts of programming, I'm all for it. I'm not a fan of most online games, but I have to say this is really cool. I think more games should provide an environment to explore programming (optionally of course)

    1. Re:Nicely done sir by nschubach · · Score: 4, Informative

      Just to clear something up (in case someone else has never played it)... Minecraft is not an online game. It's a Java based game with a massive procedural generated world full of blocks that can be moved around. It has multiplayer aspects and a dedicated server, but they are not required for play.

      --
      Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
    2. Re:Nicely done sir by Anrego · · Score: 1

      I have to assume this kid probably had some prior programming interest before taking on this project.

      If not, that's even more hardcore (and this whole thing really is quite insane.. ).

    3. Re:Nicely done sir by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      You can create some stuff at least in OpenTTD too: here's a neat 7-segment LED counter made with trains.

    4. Re:Nicely done sir by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Call of Duty is not an online game. It is a mission-based game that has multiplayer aspects and a dedicated server, but they are not req- aw, who am I kidding - it's a fucking online game. Same with Minecraft.

  4. For those of us who don't know... by Zapotek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...what Minecraft is, can someone explain why that calc is an accomplishment?
    What's the difficulty of doing something like that? What elements do you have available? Do you have logic-gates, math functions, full-blown scripting, or what?

    1. Re:For those of us who don't know... by ocdude · · Score: 5, Informative

      Minecraft is a sandbox type game where you can build stuff out of the environment. It has no scripting or math functions built in, nor does it really have any sort of logic gates built in. However, it does something called "redstone dust" which you can use as wires. The wiki explains more, but you can hand-craft logic gates out of it: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Redstone_Dust

    2. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In the basic game, which it looks like he is using, you get NOT gates. From which, as we know, all of computing is derivable. By arraning the "wires" and "torches" you build NOTs, then ANDs, then NOR etc etc etc

      There is a form of cheating everyone uses in these endeavors which is a copy/paste mechanism for duplicating substructures, as well as unlimited resources (whereas in the survival game you have to collect ores while fending off zombies and skeletons and farming for your dinner).

    3. Re:For those of us who don't know... by mmcxii · · Score: 1

      Basically logic gates

    4. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      from the video I would have to assume this is basically a mechanical calculator, equivalent to a scientific calculator made out of basic legos, no mindstorms or anything electrical.

    5. Re:For those of us who don't know... by interval1066 · · Score: 1

      By arraning the "wires" and "torches" you build NOTs...

      Which leads to my question, this appears to show that he's using pure binary logic; meaning this calculator is not an analog machine like the ALU (if you saw that vid it looked to me like the operator had to run to each part of the logic and flip a lever or light a torch or something), in this it looks like he's using the "wires" to carry actual signals around the logic. This look like a minecraft model of actual signal-bit operations. Am I getting this right?

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    6. Re:For those of us who don't know... by nschubach · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's binary... the redstone has a delay when you go through some of the gates and repeaters which makes it look a bit analog, but the logic is all binary. The torches can be used as repeaters (torches power redstone up to 16 blocks) and/or carry a bit signal up or down in elevation in the world. You cannot put redstone wire on the side of multiple block so you have to use stairs (space intense) or torches (compact) to change elevation.

      --
      Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
    7. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would kind of suck for a zombie to explode in the middle of this thing, yes...

    8. Re:For those of us who don't know... by SimonTheSoundMan · · Score: 4, Informative

      Basically, he's created an ALU found on a CPU, but operates like something Charles Babbage would have made. Even the gates for memory are mechanical, the input and output are all mechanical too. Truly amazing!

    9. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Bucky24 · · Score: 2

      .What's the difficulty of doing something like that? What elements do you have available? Do you have logic-gates, math functions, full-blown scripting, or what?

      It really depends on the mods you have installed. There is a mod out there that has single blocks for all the basic logic gates. But it's much harder then scripting. If you want to script something first you have to build a chip that understands the script, THEN write the script.

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
    10. Re:For those of us who don't know... by interval1066 · · Score: 1

      Ok, THAT is pretty cool. The ALU took a looong time to get it to do an anything, honestly I wasn't impressed with it. Anyone can take a collection of objects (rocks, twigs, small pets) and use them as place holders and perform logic operations with them. This however is a true digital calculator.

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    11. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "NOT gates. From which, as we know, all of computing is derivable"

      We don't know that, because it's not true. Could you dweebs at least pretend to be somewhat humble and *verify* your awesome pronouncements from above?

      http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_4/chpt_3/9.html

    12. Re:For those of us who don't know... by _Shad0w_ · · Score: 2

      You're thinking of NAND gates (or NOR gates, which have the same property).

      --

      Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.

    13. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Smidge204 · · Score: 4, Informative

      It takes a long time because the game is essentially a 3D cellular automation. When you flip a switch, for example, the block it sits on is "powered" - then it takes one update cycle for that "power" to travel up to 16 blocks, then at least one more update cycle for the next 16 blocks, etc. Any object that's not wire (like the components in a logic gate) adds at least one more cycle worth of delay. It adds up quickly.

      Redstone was really intended for simple mechanisms like switch activated doors and other very simple, local interactivity. But people have really taken it to the limits of the game. Basically you're building logic gates and digital circuits out of discreet relays!
      =Smidge=

    14. Re:For those of us who don't know... by rjames13 · · Score: 1

      Not a Zombie a Creeper.

    15. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Anrego · · Score: 1

      It has a very primitive system with a set of odd rules and behaviours that can be exploited. Ultimately the only thing you are really given easily is a NOT gate. Doing something like this has two primary challanges:

      - the logic of the thing itself
      - translating it into "minecraft" logic and working within the restrictions imposed

      The system is built around blocks being powered/unpowered .. with different game blocks powering blocks around it in different patterns, and other blocks responding to that power in different ways.

      It's definitely not as straight forward as just drawing out a circuit diagram in the equivalent game pieces.

    16. Re:For those of us who don't know... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2

      Minecraft is basically a 3D cellular automata simulator. You set cells to different values ('materials') and then in the next update cycle their properties will change depending on their value and the values of their neighbours. Because cellular automata of this nature are Turing complete it is possible to implement any kind of computer in Minecraft. Because of the visual representation of the blocks, it is possible to create visual representations.

      This is no more of an achievement than creating a graphical calculator from LEDs and transistors. Which is to say, it's very impressive.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    17. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You want this link: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Redstone_circuits

    18. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      discrete. if they were discreet, this thing wouldn't work.

    19. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget that you'd need to build the 'tape' device to *store* the script, and the input device to write the script *to* said 'tape'. And even then, it would be a 'script' in the same way that *machine language* is a 'script'. A true script would involve many more layers being built, all using virtual electro-mechanical computing circuits.

    20. Re:For those of us who don't know... by iamhassi · · Score: 1

      ...what Minecraft is, can someone explain why that calc is an accomplishment? What's the difficulty of doing something like that? What elements do you have available? Do you have logic-gates, math functions, full-blown scripting, or what?

      basically, it's a primitive PC, using blocks that move to perform calculations.

      Think of a calculator, and when you click 2 + 4 that 2 button is connected to a box that has 2 blocks in it that fall and when you click the 4 button another 4 blocks fall from another box. The + then puts those 6 blocks together in a box, and then.... erhm, magic happens, and something figures out the total is 6 and displays a 6 on the screen.

      You could do this in real life with enough blocks and something the size of a skyscraper to do the calculations.

      --
      my karma will be here long after I'm gone
    21. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Canazza · · Score: 1

      Each Redstone block can have up to 6 input/output combinations (ie, 5 inputs, 1 output, or 2 inputs 4 outputs etc) making each one an up-to-5-input NOR gate. As we all know, a 1-input 1-output NOR gate is simply a NOT gate.

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    22. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it's really not like that at all. There are no counting blocks. It's all digital on/off states stored in redstone circuitry.

    23. Re:For those of us who don't know... by Canazza · · Score: 1

      No, you have a NOR gate. Redstone torches on the side of a block can have multiple OR inputs and negates the input.

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    24. Re:For those of us who don't know... by ockegheim · · Score: 1

      Hehe, yes, a proper relay goes "THUNK!"

      --
      I’m old enough to remember 16K of memory being described as “whopping”
  5. Transcendental functions by Ambitwistor · · Score: 3, Informative

    Anyone know how he did functions like logarithms, trig, etc.? I didn't watch the whole video.

    1. Re:Transcendental functions by Rockoon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Video doesnt explain, but probably he uses taylor series.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    2. Re:Transcendental functions by MickLinux · · Score: 5, Informative

      For logs, it is easier and faster to [1] convert the number to binary (2^x) (1.yyyy). Save the power x for later. For the other number 1.yyyy, break the number down to [binary] (1+0.a)(1+0.0b)(1+0.00c)... Where a, b, and c are binary digits. There is an algorithm like a single binar divide that will generate a,b,c all at once . Then for every nonzero a, b, and c... you look up the log-base 2 and sum those together. That will give you the binary digits to the right of the decimal. The number to the left is the power of 2 from the first conversion.

      --
      Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
  6. During trig/calc class... by TWX · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...I created games on my TI-82 graphing calculator, so I guess turnabout is fair play...

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:During trig/calc class... by cervesaebraciator · · Score: 4, Funny

      Now the challenge is to go back and recreate Minecraft for your TI 82. Then try creating a graphing calculator within that.

    2. Re:During trig/calc class... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yo dawg, I heard you liked graphing calculators.... nah, nevermind.

  7. Did it without RedPower2 addon by uigrad_2000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are lots of addons that help with redstone wiring. The premiere one is probably RedPower2. In addition to giving unit-sized gates, latches, and flip-flops, it also gives buses, which can carry 8 bits of data along a single line.

    I just can't believe that this is all done without addons. Even building a BDD (Binary to Decimal Decoder) is difficult in Minecraft, and translating that to display the correct digits is complex. I don't mean "complex so that a child couldn't understand it", but complex as in taking a lot of clock cycles. There are only 20 ticks per second in Minecraft, so all these operations quickly add up to a lot of time.

    In addition to binary/decimal conversions, and the logic for doing complex operations (dividing is very hard), this calculator even has typesetting. When you have a power, it places the the displayed value as a superscript! Radicals are drawn over values for the SQRT operations!

    In essence, I'm a bit skeptical about this. I believed it when I first saw it a few days ago, but the more I think about it, I think it's all staged. I'm curious to see what others think.

    As far as my own redstone experience: I've done far more than the average minecraft player, including building adders and counters, but haven't ever attempted any mega projects.

    --
    Free unix account: freeshell.org
    1. Re:Did it without RedPower2 addon by SaroDarksbane · · Score: 1

      He must have used some kind of addon, though, since the numbers on the "buttons" and being able to "push" them by stepping on them as he did aren't from the vanilla game.

      I'm skeptical as well, but I'd certainly be happy to be proved wrong, because that's quite an accomplishment if it's legit.

    2. Re:Did it without RedPower2 addon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      the wiki clearly states how to make assembly code gates. how to extend using repeaters etc... and 16 year olds usually have a large amount of free time.
      http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Redstone_Circuits
      using an addon might make it easier but i have seen people waste more time.

    3. Re:Did it without RedPower2 addon by ZiZe · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is explained in the video, the "buttons" are re-skinned wooden pressure plates, so he has to walk on the to activate.

      --
      Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
    4. Re:Did it without RedPower2 addon by quiet+down · · Score: 4, Informative

      The description states that he used a custom texture pack, nothing more. In this pack he made a bunch of iron blocks with text on them. He also made Wooden pressure plates invisible, and had placed them over the 'buttons'. Pretty ingenious.

    5. Re:Did it without RedPower2 addon by TheCouchPotatoFamine · · Score: 2

      er, shouldn't that be: the "buttons" are "wooden pressure plates" he has to "walk" over in the "activate"? Nothing in this demo/conversation should lack quotes!

      --
      CS majors know the time/space tradeoff, but they never get taught the 3rd, crucial, tradeoff of the set: comprehension!
    6. Re:Did it without RedPower2 addon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what did you add today other than CO2 and other excretions?

    7. Re:Did it without RedPower2 addon by rjames13 · · Score: 1

      It's not fake, I have seen people build simple CPU's in Minecraft before. This is just an extension of those efforts. The only barrier to creating it is the simulation limit of the redstone in Minecraft itself. Which is why the machine is 3D and not 2D.

      And there are many more of those

    8. Re:Did it without RedPower2 addon by WarlockD · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I've built some ALU's and prototypes of CPU's, here is some grandstanding of my TMS1000 clone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t82p-Ql8Djo The thing is though, while I am an older guy, I went from zero knowledge to this in under 6 months in minecraft. Binary logic is just not that hard. Its just really really repetitive.

      After the hundreds of test projects I built, I have a good judge on the amount of logic you need and I have to say, the kid knows his shit. He is basically using 3 shift registers and a shift ALU. That is, he is only calculating one digit at a time with bits hold carry/overflow flags. Notice how he said it was a 6 bit BCD adder? That is JUST enough bits to calculate 9x9 with one bit over for carry. This is why those cheap 99 cent solar calculators are so cheap, it has about the same kind of logic in them. If you build your logic around needing to shift, everything is smaller and easier. It might be slower, but it properly takes longer to cycle the display than to multiply a number. Also, its so small is because he doesn't have a big ass ram bank. 9/10 cpu projects usually are big because of even a bank of 20 registers.

      On the mine craft side of things, he uses pressure plates as they look a bit nicer and generally its an easier interface to wire. There is this is/was a big design stuff in the forms about dot matrix displays so I figure he put in his own display stuff there. The only thing I am not impressed with is the "graphing" part of his calculator. Lets face it, the entire core of the thing is a 6 BCD adder with shift logic. This thing is WAY to small and far to limited memory for it to have nothing but static formulas. Also, why didn't he put in a simple clock to just "draw" the grid instead of pressing a button?

      But to be honest this is WAY better than that stupid HACK alu. I AM impressed with the original guy who made it, just not all the 100's of clones people have made of it. Very few people have made a 100% working cpu. Anyone can build an ALU, no one builds the state/decoding logic:P

      Look at his older caculator, you can see how small the basic logic is there and how much you need for the display:P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSC_YXuONZg

    9. Re:Did it without RedPower2 addon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He used the custom texture pack for playback. Creating the level simply wasn't done without RedPower2 or somthing similar. Anyone who could do this at all; would be far too clever to wast that amount of time laying out evey block by hand.

  8. ob xkcd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Lesson two: implement this: http://xkcd.com/505/

  9. That is infskcredible by alexborges · · Score: 2

    Really. That is one smart kid with a lot of time, talent, willpower and attention for detail. Kudos to the guy/gal that accomplished it.

    --
    NO SIG
  10. Turing on Turing is Turing. Film at 11. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Turing on Turing is Turing. Film at 11. Yawn. I'll be lucky if I make it through Jay's monologue after this.

  11. Touring complete? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So I can assume Minecraft is touring complete as a programming language, huh?

    1. Re:Touring complete? by interval1066 · · Score: 1

      "Turing", as in Alan Turing, British Mathematician, not "touring", as in a sedan.

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    2. Re:Touring complete? by smash · · Score: 1

      It has logic gates, so yes.

      --
      I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
    3. Re:Touring complete? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Logic gates are not enough to make something Turing complete.

  12. Level editor? by Hentes · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Is there a level editor for Minecraft or did this guy just waste a few years of his life? Also, this is not really different from other CA circuits of which there are far more awesome.

    1. Re:Level editor? by Surt · · Score: 4, Informative

      There is an editor. Nobody does these projects in game, it's literally impossible (not enough game ticks per second * time minecraft has been out to accomplish the builds).

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    2. Re:Level editor? by omglolbah · · Score: 1

      A common tool is to use WorldEdit while in-game.

      It allows loading 'schematic' files into game directly, copy-pasting and all sorts of things for building complex stuff.

  13. 1222221? by Like2Byte · · Score: 3, Funny

    Calculating something that said '5318008' would have been so much cooled. sigh.

    Seriously, this is simply freakin' awesome! Nice job, MaxSGB.

  14. Cute, now go learn FPGA design by billcopc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's impressive in the sense that this guy created a fairly simple "computer", using a limited game environment (Minecraft), running on a virtual machine (Java), running on a physical machine (PC/Mac). In other words, he's spending a million CPU cycles to simulate a single gate in the most roundabout way possible.

    I'm impressed that someone with that much patience and functional intellect is wasting so much time in Minecraft, when they could be learning actual chip design. I'm impressed that bragging rights in a game are more important than actual worthwhile accomplishments. I'm impressed that Soulskill wasted so many more of our CPU and brain cycles sharing this pointless feat.

    Get. Off. My. Fucking. Lawn. Bitches.

    --
    -Billco, Fnarg.com
    1. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Deltaspectre · · Score: 1

      This this this. If you're going to go through all the trouble to do it in minecraft, why not do it on some CPLDs. You probably won't get as much internet fame, but you'll e able to show that off on the job/college hunt!

      --
      My UID is prime... is yours?
    2. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet he can still show this off on the college/job hunt.

    3. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by SaroDarksbane · · Score: 1

      The guy who made the 16-bit ALU in Minecraft supposedly received a job offer over his video. I wouldn't assume that this kind of project is useless for finding a job\college.

    4. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Githaron · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Considering the amount of research and understanding that it took to build this thing, I highly doubt this was a "waste of time". Also, it is an awesome showcase of his abilities to future employers and colleagues. You could argue that he could have built a real calculator from transistors instead but that would probably take money that a lot of 16 year olds simply do not have.

    5. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      In other words, he's spending a million CPU cycles to simulate a single gate in the most roundabout way possible.

      No, "the most roundabout way possible" would involve running that Java virtual machine on a Javascript-emulated 6502 processor (and there's really no limit to how many other layers of emulation you could stack on, especially considering that our whole physical universe is most likely a simulation itself).

    6. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Deltaspectre · · Score: 1

      I seem to remember it was for a generic "We're making an MMO" type place, not anything related to hardware design though

      --
      My UID is prime... is yours?
    7. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, this isn't surprising.

      I wrote a simple VM on my old BBC around 1990 at the age of 10 - no-one cared, because it wasn't cool.

      I built parts of a CPU out of discrete components in my teens - no-one cared, because it wasn't cool.

      I did well in easy, meaningless school exams and got offers from various top universities - because it /was/ cool.

      I wrote a toy protected-mode multiprocessing OS in 1997/8 - no-one cared, because it wasn't cool.

      Then I coded up a few web sites using basic HTML and Perl and suddenly I was making a lot of money - because it /was/ cool.

      My current nerdy project involves building a little box with a software-defined shoftwave radio and an ARM-based computer for a global infrastructure-free peer-to-peer digital experience. But our present economic and sociopolitical system is surely going to remain stable forever, isn't it? so no-one cares, because it's not cool.

      Capitalism's about responding to a market, not necessarily doing what's intellectually challenging or innovative. I'm happy to scrape by to survive and spend the rest of my life tinkering now. If the Western world wanted to give people the opportunity to advance for humanity's sake, they'd have been looking to the educational and infrastructure models of the USSR 40 years ago or China today - possibly even the employment security of the former, where every clever, hard-working technical man would be nurtured toward increasing the scientific output of his nation. Instead, we only look to the East for ways we can erode our great heritage of freedom.

    8. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by billcopc · · Score: 0

      So then, you get proper circuit design/sim software, something which Minecraft is not.

      My whole point in the previous post was that rather than building useless stuff from scratch, he should be taking advantage of existing tech to further his skills and knowledge. When I started programming, I learned a (shitty) high-level language because that's what was current at the time. Once I knew what I could do with these silly machines, I then learned 6502 assembler for my own curiosity (and later, 286/386). Why do it the hard way if you can reach greater heights the easy way ? Learn the nuts and bolts to satisfy your own obsessive curiosity, sure, but I'd like to think a 16 year old might have more immediately pertinent uses for his/her time.

      It really pisses me off to watch such potential go to waste, because it does not fit "the western way". It reminds me of my own childhood, when my brain was very hungry but had little to "eat". I couldn't get the things it craved, so I had to reinvent the wheel to provide them myself. Couldn't afford a graphics editor, so I built one from scratch. Couldn't afford the assembler cart, so I wrote my own damned assembler. Today, things are different. We have much easier access to knowledge and free software to learn on, so to watch someone spend an inordinate amount of time doing things backwards is one of the most frustrating and depressing experiences I can think of.

      I don't mean to be all high and mighty about what the kid "should" be doing. I'm just saying it's a sad world if we encourage such futile accomplishments over true growth.

      --
      -Billco, Fnarg.com
    9. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Gryle · · Score: 2

      I'm guessing you're the kind of person who grumbles about people playing rock band when they could be learning to play the actual instruments.

      --
      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
    10. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I worked with a Russian woman who lived in the USSR before the wall fell. I asked her what it was like, as sort of a "was I propagandized" check. Her response was "We pretended to work and they pretended to pay us". If that's the job security you're looking for - you can have it.

    11. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Chris+Burke · · Score: 2

      If you mean designing an FPGA, then maybe that can wait until after college EE/device physics courses, and getting a good start on boolean logic and computer architecture is a enough for a high schooler.

      If you mean designing for an FPGA then frankly this is much more impressive -- while designing for the fixed-size logic tables and routing patterns of an FPGA presents its own challenges it's practically utopia for someone who has worked within the limitations of Minecraft. I'm sure he'd have no problems adapting to the constraints of a specific FPGA.

      I don't see why doing what would be mathematically equivalent on an FPGA is "actual worthwhile" while this is "bragging rights in a game".

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    12. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by MickLinux · · Score: 1

      Funny. In my Apple 2+ days, I just typed the hex code, and skipped the assembler. In my PC days,though, I cheated and used Dos debug plus recursive C code and .bat programs to make a mini assembler.

      --
      Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
    13. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by bryan1945 · · Score: 2

      Also someone who only approves of hobbies that satisfy his sensibilities. How dare this 16-year-old not go out and buy a breadboard with a bunch of simple TI chips and FPGAs to built a Cray. Madness!

      --
      Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
    14. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I worked with a [person from somewhere]. I asked her what it was like, as a sort of "are my prejudices wrong" check. Her response was "no". If that's the sort of anecdote you're looking for - you can have it.

      Perhaps one day I'll meet a man with a Soviet high school or undergrad mathematics education who doesn't put a similar Western education (barring the top handful of universities in the West) to shame. There's my anecdote.

    15. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by hamster_nz · · Score: 1

      I agree - FPGA designing would be easy after Minecraft!

      He can even use my quick and dirty course in FPGAs if he wants...

    16. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You kids get off my lawn!

      Romney 2012

    17. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by strikethree · · Score: 1

      Not everyone has the same values as you. Perhaps he just does not care about doing it in real life. Or maybe his interest in minecraft spurred his interest in creating the calculator. Maybe his next step is indeed doing FPGA design? Just enjoy the creation for what it is. :)

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    18. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Troed · · Score: 1

      Why would you want to reinvent the wheel instead of putting FreedomBox on a Raspberry PI?

      (Some things we do ourselves because we want to prove to ourselves that we can, but if you want to change the world it's better to join up)

      --
      it's in my head
    19. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Issarlk · · Score: 1

      I participated in a robotic contest in the 90s where a russian team didn't just pretend to totally destroy the competition with a robot that seemed to have been assembled with old 1970s parts. And that remind me of on electronic instructor at the university, a russian, who had written the 200 page book we were using, and who would explain at lunch breaks "I leave you the keys to the lab if you want. You have to work, not eat." So looks like there were hard working people, and lazy people there.

    20. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That project is a secure Internet-connected appliance. I admire its goals, but you may be assuming (i) the world can be changed by communicating over the Internet; (ii) the Internet will still exist in useful form during the process of meaningful change.

      It's not just that the Internet can be monitored and restricted at the whim of anyone sufficiently powerful, but that the Internet as a noisy, homogenised medium has provided a very stilted outlook on the world where the loudest voice wins and people are less likely to learn through direct experience. We have a generation of people who don't learn the good and the bad in society by going out and getting involved with it but by following a feed on Twitter. You have to understand the scope of the resources you're choosing to exploit.

    21. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Troed · · Score: 1

      What has IP as a bearer to do with "following a feed on Twitter"? How would exchanging the physical layer for another change anything?

      --
      it's in my head
    22. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 1

      He's 16 years old. Perhaps this is the first step in him learning chip design? Or maybe you think 4 year olds should be ridiculed and scorned because they're wasting their time learning the alphabet instead of just reading Lord of the Rings.

      Seriously, if you're that bitter about wasting your life, maybe you should go and do something with it, instead of wasting time on slashdot jealously projecting onto people who are actually trying to fulfill their potential.

      --
      (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
    23. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by hvm2hvm · · Score: 1

      So what? I'm guessing that working on an MMO is that guy's dream (or one of them).

      --
      ics
    24. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How would exchanging the physical layer for another change anything?

      Do you really have to ask that? Do you really believe that the method used to communicate does not affect the utility and consequence of that communication?

    25. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by VanessaE · · Score: 1

      Because its more fun to futz around with objects in a video game than to plod through the workflow necessary to get from an idea to a completed circuit board populated with the aforementioned logic devices, I/O ports, etc?

    26. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Troed · · Score: 1

      I don't see why exchanging one form of "wlan" phy layer for another would make the slightest difference, no. There's no one there to intercept my radio waves whichever carrier form I use.

      --
      it's in my head
    27. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2

      So then, you get proper circuit design/sim software, something which Minecraft is not.

      I disagree. Building something with a tool that is not designed for it is often a much better learning experience. Building an ALU in a circuit design package is relatively easy - most of the tedious stuff is done for you and there are prepackaged components for a lot of what you want. Building it one switch at a time is a far less productive use of your time, but gives you a much better understanding of how everything really works (although the fact that time and values are discrete in minecraft hides the messy analogue stuff from you).

      The goal here is not to build a graphing calculator. That would be pointless - you can buy a much better one very cheaply. The point is to really understand how such a device works so that he could build one if he needed to. That's not to say I wouldn't suggest that his next project be done in Verilog, but there's something to be said from starting with the wrong tool for the job. If nothing else, it teaches you to appreciate the good tools a lot more...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    28. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      Well said!

    29. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      My whole point in the previous post was that rather than building useless stuff from scratch, he should be taking advantage of existing tech to further his skills and knowledge.

      I think you may be missing something fundamental about logic design if you think he's not.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    30. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am good with computers. The only thing it has gotten me is ever boss I have ever had trying to get me to do their pet project so they advance and I don't go anywhere. I'm happier doing it as a hobby and making a good living pretending to be dumb.

    31. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any introductory book on radio communications will explain the different properties of different wavelengths, taking account of the Earth's structure. Ease of building should also be a factor if you want freedom.

    32. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Troed · · Score: 1

      Yeah I've worked in the telecom (mobile) industry for 15 years - that still doesn't answer my question on why you would want to reinvent the phy layers we have ;)

      --
      it's in my head
    33. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What've u ever done in computing? Nothing.

    34. Re:Cute, now go learn FPGA design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a fucking joke, Alex. Shut the fuck up.

  15. Re:Autism simulator. by Beelzebud · · Score: 1

    And your lame nerd bashing AC post is yet more proof that /. is becoming a mere shadow of its former self.

  16. Autism by firefrei · · Score: 5, Funny

    As per a YouTube Comment:

    Autismï is a hell of a drug.

    --
    I remember when Linux was good... too...
    1. Re:Autism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there is a reason I call this game AutismCraft.

  17. Text on iron blocks? by FunkSoulBrother · · Score: 0

    How is this accomplished in Minecraft? I though the only way to place text was to use signs.

    1. Re:Text on iron blocks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He is using pistons to push blocks out a wall, similar to the magenetic pin clocks you may have seen for sale.

    2. Re:Text on iron blocks? by Bucky24 · · Score: 1

      As is mentioned in a comment above, the creator used a custom texture pack for the input keypad. Still impressive though, I'd like to see that texture pack...

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
  18. I guess it's OK... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Kind of cool, but can you do it in survival mode?

    1. Re:I guess it's OK... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. You'll just spend a *lot* more time working on it, and it'll have to be better lit, and walled off to keep the Creepers away. You'll also have to do a lot of debugging and maintenance because of the Endermen.

  19. Next, VHDL to Minecraft. by Animats · · Score: 1

    I'm kind of disappointed. When I started watching the video, I thought someone had built this with moving parts in Minecraft But it's just a big collection of wired logic. It's not like you can see the parts move.

    So hook up a VHDL compiler to the Redstone 2 Minecraft compiler. There are CPU designs available in VHDL. Generate a real CPU in Minecraft.

    The cool CPU I'm waiting for is Babbage's Analytical Engine. The guy who says he's building a replica hasn't made much progress yet. Babbage's design had about a dozen instructions. But it was designed with 50-digit arithmetic (unclear why) and 100 memory locations (reasonable). The memory part would have been bulky, but the CPU is comparable to a mechanical desk calculator. It will be expensive to build, but as a CAD modeling job, not so bad, because it's mostly repeated instances of the same components.

  20. Re:Autism simulator. by Bucky24 · · Score: 1

    Not really... Just a kid with a TON of time on his hands. To be honest I could probably make something SORTOF like this (ie, basic calculator) in redstone if I had the time. It's just circuits. The higher math is impressive though, but again, just takes a basic understanding of circuits, how math works, and a lot of time. Hardly autism.

    On the other hand, what if he is autistic? Clearly he's capable of doing some pretty amazing things regardless.

    --
    All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
  21. Somewhat impressive by insecuritiez · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A friend of mine (who's 15) and myself (I'm 28 with a CS degree) have a nearly working programmable 8-bit computer in Minecraft. ALU is done, all 256 bytes of memory are done, the instruction tape (made out of sand and glass, much like a punchcard) is done, etc. Another 20 someodd hours and we'll have all of the components connected together and the whole CPU completely done. It actually isn't as hard or take as much time as it may sound.

    The most impressive thing about this video is that he did all of the math in BCD rather than just running it on a CPU. I already have multiplication (Booth's algorithm) and other operations programmed on our instruction set (we wrote an assembler and emulator outside of Minecraft to work out the kinks). I'd rather do the complex operations in software rather than laying gates and logic in the hardware.

    I don't see how he has enough room for displays of that size. You'd need NxM worth of latches to sustain the pistons that drive the pixels as well as the appropriate muxers to select which pixels are turned on. Our 256 byte memory array is bigger than his entire calculator so I'm a bit skeptical that he isn't using some addons.

    1. Re:Somewhat impressive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You are using a tape for instructions. It should be also possible to use a tape for memory - a lot more compact than latches, I would think.

    2. Re:Somewhat impressive by insecuritiez · · Score: 1

      So the CPU is actually a Harvard arcitecture so we have 256 bytes of instruction memory and 256 bytes of data memory.

      The tape is a piston-driven loop of sand and glass that is cycled once and all of the instructions in the tape are read into instruction memory. The tape works because non-glass blocks propagate redstone but glass stops it (is an insulator). So we encode zeros with glass and ones with sand. We actually use colored wool instead of sand every 8 places so that it's easy to keep track of where we are in the tape when we have to make adjustments.

      The tape is the program to be read into memory. We did this so that we can swap out the program for a different program by replicating the take over a few blocks and encoding something else onto it.

    3. Re:Somewhat impressive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      made out of sand and glass, much like a punchcard

      I'd heard that dropping your punchcards on the floor was bad, but I had no idea.

    4. Re:Somewhat impressive by WarlockD · · Score: 1

      I suspect he is doing some trickery with the display. That is, its not a true dot-matix display. Also this thing is using a sift BCD adder, I doubt he has more than 16 bytes in the entire thing. See the propagation delay in the final result? I don't even think he latches the registers. Also on 1:24 you see his decoder, He only has a single 5 row encoder (32 charters max). I suspect he has a shift register at the back of the display, the symble comes in, gets decoded and shifts onto the display. Remember, the atari 2600 could only draw one line at a time, this thing can only shift one digit at a time. The answer display looks attached to the adder directly however.

      Got more on my response here: http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2748105&cid=39485531 , but the jist is that its perfectly reasonable to say this guy did it. It just has NO CPU logic. At best, its like one of those cheap solar calculators you buy at walmart.

    5. Re:Somewhat impressive by tingentleman · · Score: 1

      A friend of mine (who's 15) and myself (I'm 28 with a CS degree) have a nearly working programmable 8-bit computer in Minecraft.

      Can't wait to see this. Can you message (or tweet me - @jamestinman), thanks!

  22. Cool and all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is impressive. But then, there's RedGame 2.1, which was made by someone who doesn't appear to be much if any older than this kid. I'm impressed by both, but one seems far more complex and mature.

  23. Easier than some... by FloydTheDroid · · Score: 5, Funny

    The thing to be noted from this is that Minecraft is an easier IDE to use than Eclipse.

    1. Re:Easier than some... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Eclipse is a very easy IDE to use. All you need to do is launch it and wait.

  24. Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you seen my mushroom house?

    Marcus Tee

  25. it doesnt count by xmorg · · Score: 1

    unless you do it in survival mode.

  26. Download? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can the map be downloaded somewhere? Then I will believe it.

  27. Someone... by larpon · · Score: 1

    will make it run linux some day

  28. That's very neat but it can't build a house? by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    This can't compete but I thought it was incredible.

    I ran a mine craft server for a few friends and used "world edit" to import others projects.

    This links to a video of a house builder -three story house with floors and roof. Build by
    Ltcheesecracker; someone I've never met or known. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZG4i64ruWU&

    It's just the very beginning, it takes quite awhile to finish. I've watched it to completion the first run.
    It creates stones from Lava and Water.

    Seriously amazing the stuff you can do with Minecraft, as this and the 16 year olds calculator show.

  29. Not legit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I bet he mcedited all those resources in.

    Just kidding, obviously he probably had flying on and stuff, but seriously this is pretty dang cool, and the solver was way faster than I expected.

  30. Is MaxSGB an American? by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    A lot of people are telling me that Americans are too stupid, and lazy, for high tech.

  31. Cool, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What was throwing up in my ears during the video?
    This work is impressive, but if the kid thinks whatever that was is music then we are surely doomed.

  32. Trained to retrieve a baby who's fallen into a by owenc · · Score: 1

    This is a 10 foot dive to retrieve a baby who's fallen into a pool. A couple bite marks is much easier to deal with than a death. With a dog trained to do this, then you can bet he/she can do much.

  33. nostalgia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now that's why I want games to have programming languages in them. I loved ZZT (text-mode) when I was younger, but the data was easily corrupted on large scripts or objects got out of sync.

  34. Re:Playing Children by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jews did WTC

  35. Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is awesome! Like possum.
    This is one of the reasons I bought minecraft, seeing the masters at work!