Basic Computer Concepts - Pt 1 - CPU Architecture

I'm starting a new series here that dives deep into the world of Minecraft computers. We're starting small here with a basic system, but soon we will cover more advance topics that relate more to real life computers

In this video, we start with the basic Minecraft computer that just about everyone and their dog has built. Encompassing crash courses in binary numbers and binary arithmetic, registers, decoders, look-up tables, and arithmetic-logic units. We go over these basic components and their roll in a computer system, and how specifically they are connected to create a Turing-complete computer.

We also cover concepts such as read-write cycles, flag information, and conditional and unconditional branching.

---Additional Information and Links---

My ALU Tutorial:

Sw1Ftx16's Dual Read RAM:

Mott Bot's Decoder Tutorial:

My Own Decoder Designs:

HansLemurson's Branching Program Counter:

Koala_Steamed's Decoder Design:

My Twitter (I would recommend following):

World Download:

[Gunthr]

I wonder if Notch envisioned us learning about computer architecture in minecraft :p

[random]

I aced my computer science test at the end of my school year because you explained binary, logic and literally everything else better that my teacher!

[straif]

Me: Just decided today that it's my long term goal to build a Redstone computer


Next week's finals: Am I a joke to you?

[mxcascade]

I feel like a downscaled megamind after those first 7 minutes. your explanations are really good

[ivelissvargas]

Me Before The Video: OMG computer basics...I hope I learn a lot!
Me After The Video: Ouch ...My head...

[squigglylines]

I SUBSCRIBED BECAUSE I DIDNT UNDERSTAND BUT I LIKED IT!!

[ceeser]

Im creating stuff with redstone since years.
I often watched redstone videos to improve.
My hobby is programming/scripting.

I dont get that shit at all.

[Screwed]

Thank you, this video explains so well. I watch other YouTubers explain CPUs and they are really confusing

[denverbeek]

Hey, remember how I was one of the people who suggested a tutorial and commented on how much I enjoyed this series and how it's taught me how to build simple computers?

I'm planning on enrolling in a community college to major in microelectronic engineering.

I'd like to thank you for having such an immense, positive impact on my life. You've helped me find something that I love doing and studying and I hope you can inspire even more people to do the same.

Sincerely, thank you.

[anonymus]

2022 I watched a bunch of these videos in your series and I managed to create an actual computer on these videos alone! I'll just say I was already good at redstone, but I never dreamed of making a computer without these videos. My computer can do lots of stuff depending on the program, such as the fibonacci sequence or number series. I tested 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 etc and 0, 5, 10, 15 and they all worked. Amazing series, I have a new interest in computers thank you so much

[ohmybreadsticks]

that was the most succinct and understandable lesson on binary and binary operations I've found on YouTube. bravo

[toydotgame]

Finally a video on Minecraft computing that doesn't require a computer science degree to watch. (I _am_ a programmer and I've picked up small bits of knowledge from similar videos (both in Minecraft and IRL), so I guess that gives me ample context to be able to understand everything being explained here)

[gameriffy]

i would love to understand this but it's too complex for me, im excited to go to college and learn about computer science!!!


(edit)THIS WILL BECOME MY THREAD ABOUT WHAT I LEARNED BECAUSE OF THIS VIDEO AND YOUR GENIUS WAY OF EXPLAINING THINGS

[lukalot_]

Havent seen a better Redstone computer tutorial before, this will help me build my own :)

[IsItThatGame]

Massive respect from the Team IsItThatGame buddy.
Keep it up!

[juicyblunts]

Thanks for the AWESOME video! Where were you when I was learning all of this 2 years ago? It's evident from the way you describe things that you have a very deep understanding of what you are talking about. Keep this up and you're gonna go far man! I subscribed and I don't do that very often! Looking forward to binge watching more of your vids, cheers!

[vend]

Currently in school for computer engineering. This is a really cool way of actually using that knowledge firsthand and seeing how it works.

[denverbeek]

Hello. I was one of the people who suggested for you to make this series so that I could better understand Minecraft computers. After watching the first two videos years back, I thought a lot about the concepts and managed to, over the course of 4 failed attempts (primarily due to losing the save file) using a free logic gate simulator mobile app, make a 16-bit, 12-command ALU with 32 bus addresses (8 registers, 16 bytes of RAM, a stack, and 4 I/O ports + a write-only I/O "utility" address*).
It has no display features, and is heavily reliant on and suited specifically for I/O device usage. The ALU has 4 flags: Overflow (self-explanatory), Underflow (Whenever you shift a number right and the 0th bit is 1, this flag is set), Negative (Set in any A - B or A - B - 1 operation where B or B - 1 respectively are greater than A), and Zero (self-explanatory).

*The I/O utility port's main function is to relay the status of the CPU without unnecessarily using port bandwidth.

[AAGaming]

When there's no calculator plugin in the server you play on

[kplays_]

This was a great opening episode, and is very useful! Can't wait to see more!!