Online challenge
Learning and science
educational game
SHOW HN2018
143points
60comments
#290of 2,155 in 2018
Top 14%of 2018 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
7 positive, 8 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 12 critical, out of 31 comments about the project. Thread score -0.17.
Execution: 1 for, 5 againstIdea: 6 for, 0 againstDesign: 0 for, 4 againstDocs: 0 for, 3 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fun and educational, good for teaching fundamentals
From 4 comments
This is great! I've been reading up on low level logic during long builds at work. Any chance you could add a clear all button?
pro_zac on HNMy fiancee is starting computer science this fall. I'm already using this to teach fundamentals. Thank you!!
AnthonBerg on HNI always want to read The Elements of Computing Systems, but never finish it. Playing this game for a few minutes let me pick up the book again.
wlxiong on HNThis is really awesome. I just killed about an hour playing it part way through. I was saddened by the fact that I lost progress when I left the page. It would be nice if…
farzadb82 on HN
Brings back memories of building logic circuits
From 2 comments
Holy crap! this brings back memories. I actually did this many years ago with real logic gates, eventually ending up with a 4-bit CPU that could address an entire 16 nybbles of…
fbomb on HNsame! We actually built an 8-bit cpu, and while debugging some very strange, seemingly random bit flips, learned why you coil wires.
dzolvd on HN
Objections
Progress is lost when leaving the page
From 3 comments
This is really awesome. I just killed about an hour playing it part way through. I was saddened by the fact that I lost progress when I left the page. It would be nice if…
farzadb82 on HNI had more fun with this than I expected to. The only problem is that I got to the Full Adder level, then clicked on "About" and when I went back, my progress was not saved. It…
ackfoo on HNYes that is annoying. Also all progress is lost if you leave the page. I am considering saving the state in local storage so you can return to the page and continue where you…
sergex on HN
Several level bugs and out-of-order or incorrect specs
From 5 comments
I'm enjoying this; but it looks like a few of the levels might be out of order. In State Selector uses Decoder in the library but it is before decoder. Then in the Arithmetics…
r3dey3 on HNIn the full adder level, shouldn't the input/output table in the specification read 01 for the h/l on row 3? Had me a little confused trying to get my head around how the adder…
Neeek on HNThe level on subtraction doesn't mention how negative numbers are handled at all.
gsaga on HNIn the chapter on RAM, it says we can index upto 64KB of memory in a 16 bit architecture. Shouldn't it be '128K words of memory', since we can index '2 words' with a single bit.
gsaga on HNI've looked through the code a bit, I think your assembler is actually buggy. The expected results for the tests are correct, however the encoded instructions that you're feeding…
Streetwalrus on HN
Hard to start over; no clear-all button
From 2 comments
This is great! I've been reading up on low level logic during long builds at work. Any chance you could add a clear all button?
pro_zac on HNExactly. Sometimes I realize my plan is no good. It takes a lot of clicking to start over.
pro_zac on HN
Requests
Save progress between sessions
From 2 comments
This is really awesome. I just killed about an hour playing it part way through. I was saddened by the fact that I lost progress when I left the page. It would be nice if…
farzadb82 on HNI had more fun with this than I expected to. The only problem is that I got to the Full Adder level, then clicked on "About" and when I went back, my progress was not saved. It…
ackfoo on HN
Clear-all / reset button
From 2 comments
This is great! I've been reading up on low level logic during long builds at work. Any chance you could add a clear all button?
pro_zac on HNReally nice! Ideas for features i missed: Reset button. Way to see diagram of previous components. Level goal text is not equal to whats shown left. Possibly mislabeled C in full…
barrystaes on HN
Optimization leaderboards for fewest components or gates
From 2 comments
This is fun. Reminds me a lot of Euclid the Game: http://eu.jugregator.org/Level1/ Would be awesome if you compare your answer to the "best" solution, i.e. which uses the minimum…
n4r9 on HNGate count is interesting from a "how much would this const to make" perspective, but I think minimum clock cycle time is a more interesting metric, as that will show how fast…
jakear on HN
Hints for levels
From 2 comments
This is really awesome. I just killed about an hour playing it part way through. I was saddened by the fact that I lost progress when I left the page. It would be nice if…
farzadb82 on HNReally nice! Ideas for features i missed: Reset button. Way to see diagram of previous components. Level goal text is not equal to whats shown left. Possibly mislabeled C in full…
barrystaes on HN
Touch support for dragging components
From 1 comment
FYI: I'm not able to drag components from the toolbox in mobile chrome.
harperlee on HN
Questions
Will it be open source?
From 1 comment
Will it be released under an opensource license? It would be nice to try to improve, especially because it is an educational tool.
frafra on HN
Which canvas library was used?
From 1 comment
This is really neat, good job! This reminded me of "Code" by Charles Petzold, which I saw you reference in the About page. As a software engineer with an interest (but no…
chrisparton1991 on HN
Alternatives named
Nand2tetris
From 1 comment
This is an attempt to make an educational online game, where the mission is to build a microprocessor starting from simple logic gates. Hopefully it is both fun and challenging,…
sergex on HN
Euclid the Game
From 1 comment
This is fun. Reminds me a lot of Euclid the Game: http://eu.jugregator.org/Level1/ Would be awesome if you compare your answer to the "best" solution, i.e. which uses the minimum…
n4r9 on HN
MHRD
From 1 comment
Cool! Very similar to MHRD -- give that a look if this is your thing. https://store.steampowered.com/app/576030/MHRD/
Boxxed on HN
Zachtronics games
From 1 comment
If you have a look at any Zachtronics games you can see one way of doing it. It is just a leaderboard represented as a histogram. A separate one for instructions, cycles, etc. No…
meta_AU on HN