From a NAND Gate To Tetris

mikejuk writes "Long before the current crop of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Course) there was a course that taught you all you needed to know about computers by starting from the NAND gate and working its way up through the logic circuits needed for a computer, on to an assembler, a compiler, an operating system, and finally Tetris. Recently one of the creators of the course, Shimon Schocken, gave a TED talk explaining how it all happened and why it is still relevant today. Once you have seen what is on offer at http://www.nand2tetris.org/ you will probably decide that it is not only still relevant but the only way to really understand what computers are all about."

Comments

NAND Gate

[zippo01]

I watched this video and it really does seem like it would be a fun course! I'm not really sure about the whole God giving man NAND. Though that is prolly why my belief in God is 11. Hah, what a crappy NAND joke.

Not so sure this will work...

[Foske]

Quite tough to align multiple NAND gates without open spaces between them. With one circular and three flat faces it doesn't fit well. Oww and that annoying circle for the inverter... Happy that I live in Europe: Though I dislike our (square) logic gate symbols, they are great for tetris... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic_gate#Symbols.

See: we Europeans beat the USA even with logic gate-tetris !

Re:I don't know who your god is...

[Half-pint HAL]

My god is a cruel and angry god. ;-)