Let's Build A Computer
summary
Uses the Nand to Tetris curriculum and a 12‑week study group to build a simulated computer from a single NAND gate up through registers, RAM, a program counter, and a CPU wired to a ROM, keyboard, and screen. Details include a 16-bit ALU (Mark’s compact 440‑NAND design), a carry‑lookahead adder to avoid linear carry delay, DFFs built from NANDs, and surprising scale notes like 225 slides in one fast run and the Apollo AGC’s 2,800 NOR gates.
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chapters (16)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:04Stranded in space
- 2:32Why building matters
- 5:02Boolean logic and NAND
- 6:26All logic from NAND
- 9:57Optimizing XOR and MUX
- 13:34Wide branching and MUX
- 16:00Boolean arithmetic and adders
- 19:52Carry look ahead adders
- 21:16Designing an arithmetic logic unit
- 23:49Combinational vs sequential
- 25:57Memory with D flip-flops
- 27:21Registers and RAM
- 28:45Counters and program counters
- 29:07Final computer assembly
- 30:55Apollo guidance computer
