nand2tetris

What is nand2tetris

"nand2tetris" (From Nand to Tetris) is a collection of projects that let student build a computer from scratch. It is a hands-on journey that starts with the most elementary logic gate, called Nand. and ends up, 12 projects later, with a general-purpose computer system capable of running Tetris. Specifically, the 12 projects are:

Navigation

1. Boolean Logic
2. Boolean Arithmetic
3. Memory
4. Machine Language
5. Computer Architecture
6. Assembler
7. Virtual Machine I: Processing
8. Virtual Machine II: Control
9. High-Level Language
10. Compiler I: Syntax Analysis
11. Compiler II: Code Generation
12. Opearting System

Part I: Hardware

Part I covers Project 1 to 6. In this part, we are going to implement the hardware architecture for our Hack computer. In particular, we are going to build:

1. Logical gates: Project 1
2. ALU and memory devices: Project 2 and 3
3. Hack machine language: Project 4
4. CPU and RAM: Project 5
5. Hack assembler: Project 6

Part II: Software

Part II covers Project 7 to 12. In this part, we are going to implement Jack, a simple, Java-like, object-based programming language. As with programming languages like Java and C#, the Jack compiler will be two-tiered:

1. The Hack compiler will generate interim bytecode, designed to run on an abstraction virtual machine (VM).
2. The bytecode will then be compiled further by a separate VM translator into the Hack machine language.

Pictorially:

             Compiler            VM            Assembler
Source Code ---------> Bytecode ----> Assembly --------> Binary

The languaeg that we are going to implement, Jack, has the following syntax:

// First example in Programming 101
class Main {
  function void main() {
    do Output.printString("Hello World");
    return;
  }
}

In Part II, we are going to build:

1. VM translator: Project 7-8
2. BreakOut game written in Jack: Project 9
3. Jack compiler: Project 10-11
4. Operating system: Project 12