DEV CommunitySunday · May 17, 2026FREE

How You Can Build a Computer From a Single Gate

nand2tetriscomputer-architectureeducationhardware

Nand2Tetris, created by Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken, is a free online course that guides learners through building a fully functional computer starting from a single NAND gate. The course is available at nand2tetris.org and requires no pre-existing knowledge of computers or programming, though prior experience helps. The first project focuses on boolean logic, where participants build 15 different chips from the NAND gate. The course provides documents, videos, stub files, comparison files, and test files for each gate, explaining the theory of boolean logic, its connection to electrical circuits, and an introduction to hardware description languages and simulation. This approach demystifies the internals of a computer, making it accessible to software engineers who often lack understanding of low-level hardware. The course is widely regarded as one of the best for grasping how computers work from the ground up.

// why it matters

Demystifies computer internals for software engineers, bridging the gap between code and hardware.

Sources

Primary · DEV Community
▸ Read original at dev.to

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