Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to I built an 8-bit CPU simulator in Python from scratch
I built a tiny 8-bit CPU simulator in Python to better understand how computers work at a low level. It visualizes registers, memory, and instructions in real-time, so you can actually see each operation as it happens. You can write simple assembly code and watch how the CPU executes it step by step. The project is mainly for learning and experimentation, but I’d love feedback or ideas for improvement.
An 8-bit CPU simulator built in Python that lets users write and execute assembly code while watching the processor work step by step. It displays registers, memory, and instructions in real time, making low-level… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
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A digital logic simulation written in C. Contribute to rzscheck/logic development by creating an account on GitHub.
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Hi everyone, I built PyXL — a hardware processor that executes a custom assembly generated from Python programs, without using a traditional interpreter or virtual machine. It compiles Python -> CPython Bytecode -> Instruction set designed for direct hardware execution. I’m sharing an early benchmark: a GPIO test where PyXL achieves a 480ns round-trip toggle — compared to 14-25 micro seconds on a MicroPython Pyboard - even though PyXL runs at a lower clock (100MHz vs. 168MHz). The design is stack-based, fully pipelined, and preserves Python's dynamic typing without static type restrictions.…
2025 · runpyxl.com · its alternatives →
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2016 · youtube.com · its alternatives →
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Simple CPU model written in 60 lines of C with 8 registers and basic instructions - wkoszek/cpu60
2015 · github.com · its alternatives →
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A bit-serial CPU written in VHDL, with a simulator written in C. - howerj/bit-serial
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
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I built a 16-bit CPU simulator that runs entirely in the browser. You can write assembly, run it, or step through it one instruction at a time while watching what happens inside the CPU. It shows the registers, memory, flags, ALU, buses, and datapath as the program executes. You can also set breakpoints, inspect execution cycles, replay previous cycles, and try some example programs. I built this because I wanted CPU architecture to feel more tangible. Reading about fetch, decode, registers, buses, and the ALU is one thing. Watching an instruction actually move through the CPU is much more…
Aug 2026 · coretrace.srianjaneyam.me · its alternatives →
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Hi! me and my friends together built an 8 bit CPU implemented in Logisim purely from scratch. The control unit of this system does not implement the generic microcode ROM or any kind of RAM. This was made purely from discrete logic gates and coded the system to run different programs. key features: Custom 16-instruction Harvard ISA, 8-bit fixed format, 4 general purpose registers Hardwired control unit built entirely from AND/OR gate logic matrix Dual-phase clocking to eliminate race conditions Bootstrap Control Unit that cold-boots via ROM-to-RAM transfer Early-exit conditional…
Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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I built ChipBuilder to make computer architecture more approachable through interactive puzzles. You start with basic logic gates like AND, OR, and NOT, then gradually combine them into adders, multiplexers, memory, an ALU, and eventually a complete CPU. Once you've built the hardware, you can write assembly programs that run on the processor you created. The game is inspired by courses like Nand2Tetris, but everything runs directly in the browser with a visual circuit editor, simulations, and progressively harder challenges.
Jul 2026 · select.supply · its alternatives →
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Introduction to UDP: sockets, frames, and data encoding. We build a Rust client for a simple name server that converts domain names into IP addresses.
2020 · lowlvl.org · its alternatives →
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Various ipython notebooks. Contribute to julienr/ipynb_playground development by creating an account on GitHub.
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
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2015 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Full Stack Python explains programming concepts in plain language and provides links to the best tutorials for those topics.
2014 · fullstackpython.com · its alternatives →
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Hi HN! This is my pet project, written from scratch because there is so much to discover and learn in the process. The focus is on simplicity and incremental updates. Progress is slow because I do not have much spare time to work on this, but I would love to hear some feedback. Regards
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
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An educational puzzle game. Solve a series of tasks where you build increasingly powerful components. Starts with the simplest logical components and ends up with a programmable computer.
2018 · nandgame.com · its alternatives →
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Your first Python programs make pictures on a canvas. Learn calls, values, variables, and a loop before adding one click handler.
18d ago · scimigo.com · its alternatives →
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This is a little toy project of mine that lets you simulate digital logic graphs. It was inspired by Minecraft's Redstone and the Piet esolang. It's got some serious drawbacks-- you write circuits as PNGs and simulate them with a Python interface. It's slow to run and slow to experiment with. And it is certainly difficult to use for people with any kind of color blindness. But despite that, I hope this can still be a fun toy!
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
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The core question: how did HP's scientific calculators actually work at the gate level? That rabbit hole led to building one from scratch. The architectural decision everything else follows from: a decimal calculator should store numbers as BCD — one decimal digit per 4-bit nibble. A standard byte-oriented CPU (Z80, 6502) fights that layout constantly. So I designed a small custom CPU in Verilog where 4 bits is the natural data width and memory is nibble addressable. What the project covers: - Custom CPU: Harvard architecture, 12-bit ISA, 8-state execution FSM, hardware stack guard with a…
May 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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I’m sure many of you are familiar, but there’s a treacherous gap between finding (or building) a model that works in PyTorch, and getting that deployed into your application, especially in consumer-facing applications. I’ve been very interested in solving this problem with a great developer experience. Over time, I gradually realized that the highest-impact thing to have was a way to go from existing Python code to a self-contained native binary—in other words, a Python compiler. I was already pretty familiar with a successful attempt: when Apple introduced armv8 on the iPhone 5s, they…
2025 · blog.fxn.ai · its alternatives →
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Hi HN, I turned the freshly published paper “The Constructor Theory of Time” by David Deutsch and Chiara Marletto (arXiv, 13 May 2025) into an executable Python library. What you’ll find • One-to-one translation of the paper’s formalism: Substrates, Attributes, Tasks, Constructors, and task-algebra operators • Possibility / impossibility predicates and counterfactuals encoded exactly as defined • Test suite that mirrors every lemma and example (>95 % coverage, mypy-typed) • Reproductions of key results: time-keeping substrates, irreversibility proofs, quantum branching tasks, and a…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
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This is a 16bit CPU+Minicomputer from pure 74 series logic. It has user/kernel modes, virtual memory, prioritized IRQ's and DMA. It has a full C compiler and a unix-like OS. It's still in development.
2023 · sol-1.org · its alternatives →
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Simple Python Calculation Engine. Contribute to bsdz/calcengine development by creating an account on GitHub.
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
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To try it out, simply build the project yourself from source, or use attached bootable ISO image of the system (in Releases on Github) and run it in QEMU. https://blog.vxn.dev/rou2exos-rusted-edition
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
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