Does this game actually teach you anything?

[bulldog0890]

just wondering. i have a cs/ce background and I was just wondering if this is video gamey, or if this actually teaches some real assembly and circuit design?

[Phoil]

It's video gamey. It doesn't teach you any real circuit design. The assembly is a made up language on a unrealistic CPU, but it still requires thinking logically at a low level, so that may teach things. If your goal is entertainment, then it's great. If your goal is to learn assembly and circuit design then you'll be disappointed, and there's much better ways to pursue that goal.

[Mara Huldra]

Meh, if you really want to learn digital logic/hw design I'd suggest to spend the money on a cheap FPGA board. E.g. Icestick + PMOD modules and do some real prototyping instead.

The game is horribly addictive and fun though and does teach some of the broad principles of embedded design. At least more than say, playing a RPG would :-) For example the waveform viewer is nice and similar to how you would debug your designs IRL. And the decisions you have to make on components to use; to go with discrete logic or a CPU core.

The assembly is indeed completely unrealistic, e.g. involves digit manipulation instead of typical bit/byte manipulation, and dang only two registers, max 14 instructions for the *largest* core, there is more register and code size pressure than on the most limited embedded architectures I know of. This is nice for a puzzle but not indicative of real life :) It may help to teach those concepts though.

[Zero dB]

What paradise said. This is fun for people who know some programming -- working with a very limited language on very limited (virtual) hardware -- but it would only be educational for someone who's just starting out and needs to learn some of the basic concepts of programming (like simple loops and conditional statements). On the other hand, I'm not sure the language reference in the game's PDF explains those concepts sufficiently for someone who doesn't already do some simple coding.

One effect it's definitely had on me: It's made me want to get into embedded design and learn how the real stuff works.

[Mara Huldra]

Originally posted by Max:

On the other hand, I'm not sure the language reference in the game's PDF explains those concepts sufficiently for someone who doesn't already do some simple coding.

True. Although it's important to realize that it is rare for programmers, in modern days, to be confronted with limited architectures, unless they actively search them out. Many get introduced to Javascript/Python on a fast computer and stick with that. Hardly a need to think about limits at all, except outrageous ones.

This game (and TIS-100) do make me think back a bit to the experience I had programming the MSX w/ Z-80 processor "back in the days". I had no higher-level understanding of programming to speak of and learned a lot by just trying and messing around with examples in the manuals.

Originally posted by Max:

One effect it's definitely had on me: It's made me want to get into embedded design and learn how the real stuff works.

Same here.

[b1ackcoffee]

I am not a programmer (though I love maths, physics, logic, computers and science per se), but I find this game fascinating. It rekindles the desire to learn programming and make stuff or make stuff work!

PS: I am from field of medicine.

[Sperber]

If anything, it lets you practice the basic essence of software development:

Take a complex problem,
Divide it into a bunch of smaller and less complex problems,
Solve all those smaller problems to solve the big complex problem.