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Cheese with Holes (Emmental) - Developing
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My Own Logical Computer

Author: guiferviz Created: Last Modified:

This note describes one of my long-term life projects.

Goal: Build a virtual computer from pure logic to understand, in my bones, how computation works.

Why This Matters

Most people use computers without truly knowing what happens under the hood.
I want to go deeper, from basic gates to buses, registers, ALUs, and memory addressing. This is not about building a physical machine, but about building the logic of a computer in code.

What It Means to Succeed

  • I can design and simulate a simple computer architecture from scratch.
  • I understand the data flow between components: how bits move, combine, and transform.
  • I can explain to others how a computer works at a fundamental level, without looking at notes.
  • I have at least one working implementation in software.
  • I can run simple programs on it, like:
    • Fibonacci sequence.
    • Sorting algorithms.
    • Others.

Guiding Principles

  • Clarity over complexity: I would rather understand every part than chase extreme performance.
  • Build bottom-up: Start with logic gates, then chips, then the CPU.
  • Document everything: The journey matters as much as the result.
  • Code-first: Everything should be defined and connected in code. A visual representation would be nice to have, but the core is building and linking components through code, starting from the simplest logic gates.

Progress & Related Notes

These are the notes I have written along the way. They roughly follow the order in which I tackled the work, but the process was not strictly linear:

  1. What is Needed To Simulate a Computer: An overview of the project from a technical perspective. Gives some clues about how to approach this problem.
  2. My Own Logic Circuit Simulator: Building the basic logic circuit simulation engine.

TODO

  • Implement Basic Logic Gates: Nand, And, Or, Not, and how they combine.
  • Number Representation: Binary, two’s complement, and character encoding.
  • Combinational vs Sequential Circuits: Understanding circuits with and without memory.
  • Building Flip-Flops and Registers: The foundation for memory and CPU state.
  • Building the ALU: The Arithmetic Logic Unit, the heart of computation.
  • Instruction Set Design: Defining and encoding the CPU’s operations.
  • Building a Memory System: How to store and retrieve data.
  • Control Unit Design: Coordinating the execution of instructions.
  • Building a Simple CPU: Putting all components together.
  • Running Sample Programs: Fibonacci, sorting, and other test cases.
  • Debugging and Visualization Tools: Inspecting state, memory, and buses.
  • Optimizations and Lessons Learned: Reflections after the first working version.