I am definitely more of a software than a hardware person, but it's always good to step out of your comfort zone.
This project was a portfolio assignment from the Computer Architecture course on Codecademy. The assignment required that I "research, design, and build a Python program that simulates the functionalities of a CPU." Which sounded quite simple, it's such a little piece of hardware, but as soon as I started really researching I discovered more of a mountain range than a mountain of information. I applaud you hardware people, I had no idea how complex the physical components of a computer were.
The assignment was very open-ended as to how and in what way the program simulated a CPU, but did come with two text files to use for testing, one containing data, and the other instructions. Using those files and my research as a guide, I decided to simulate the stages in the CPU instruction cycle:
-Fetch
-Decode
-Execute
-Memory Access
-Registry Write-Back
Was this my favorite project? No. Did it challenge me and give me a deeper understanding of the inner workings of this wonderful machine I type away at all day? Yes.
Good assignment Codecademy.
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