[Noisebridge-discuss] Study Group - "The Elements of Computing Systems" by Nisan and Shocken

[Drew Winget]

Hi Everyone,

Drew Winget here. I was talking with Leif a few weeks ago about a book
called "The Elements of Computing Systems," and we resolved to start a
study group about it. For reference, this is the book that was used to
build a fully-functioning, 16-bit ALU (and more recently, a
fully-functioning computer with stored programs and a matrix display for
output) in Minecraft, seen here <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGkkyKZVzug>
.

The book is free online here <http://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/plan.html>, and
here <http://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/about.html>'s the authors' synopsis of the
book. The aim of the book is to build a computer from scratch, constructing
and testing each layer of the stack one-by-one until you've built a
fully-working modern computer. The construction process is virtualized with
free, open-source software you can get
here<http://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/software.html>.
The circuits are built with an HDL in a circuit simulator and the programs
are written in a language you write, compiled on a compiler you write, for
the hardware you build.

All the materials are free as long as you have a laptop. I'd like to start
first thing next year (January) for any that are interested. Leif and I
were thinking Tuesday nights, but the weekend days could also work. What
would work for everyone?
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/attachments/20111209/05ad5b3c/attachment-0002.html>