> Start: Are you a girl?
man, I was not prepared for that lol
I didn't get mine until about 1979 or 1980. Still have it, though.
The instructional manual probably makes a lot more sense with the actual system that it describes in hand.
As I see it, the genius of CARDIAC is this (emphasis mine):
> You will serve as CARDIAC's control unit by visually following its internal flow chart. While doing so, you will perform all of the operations described above.
Human-as-datapath is a fantastic idea for learning the basics of not just programming, but of microarchitecture. Once you start thinking, "hey, I could make a machine/circuit/etc. to do all of this stuff that I'm doing by hand" then you are on your way.
Having taken a survey course on computer architecture, hand simulation's the most I've ever been able to understand "complex" (scare quotes) mechanisms like out-of-order execution, multiple dispatch, speculation, etc. Which is a pity - the scare quotes belie the fact that these have been integral features of microarchitectures for decades, and they're key to understanding software performance and entire classes of security exploits.
In terms of actual implementation, I think I've only ever gotten as far as pipelining with result forwarding.
"Paper to FPGA" sounds like a cool idea, though the point of CARDIAC seems to be that you perform the operations yourself (by carefully following its flowchart/control specification and manipulating the cardboard device.)
https://web.archive.org/web/20180306072013/https://www.drdob...
That article has a link to an Excel implementation which allows you to "perform the operations" yourself without having to cut and assemble the computer.
:-)
And it vaguely felt like a PDP-8, and I suspect it also felt like whatever very early minicomputer that was available.
PAPAC-00 A 2-register, 1 bit, Fixed Instruction Binary Digital Computer
https://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2010/11/a...
> (3) that the typical 12-year-old youngster has the interest, skill and basic knowledge necessary to build and understand simple working models of practically anything
Indeed.
rootbear•8mo ago
JKCalhoun•8mo ago
(It was Trek on the TRS-80 though that put the hook in me.)
raddan•8mo ago
musicale•8mo ago