This book is an unparalleled companion in explaining, piece-by-piece, how you can build a somewhat realistic computer from the ground up in a way that is tremendously satisfying. However, it does kind of fall apart at the end, and it's difficult to finish without outside resources. Still, as a concise guide, it is unparalleled, and I am extremely happy I went on this journey, even if it kind of runs out of steam at the end.
This book is simply a guide to the project on the website of the same name. Completing the project is the primary intellectual profit of this book.
In chapters 1-5 you build up the hardware of the computer, from logic gates to CPU and RAM. These chapters are a breeze and take maybe 5 hours max. Easy and enjoyable.
In chapters 6-11, you build up the compiler to translate from a high level language (Jack) to machine code. The difficulty rapidly ramps up at this point. The assembler (chapter 6) probably took me 3 hours, but wasn't difficult. Chapters 7 and 8 (the virtual machine translator) are where it gets really hard. Each chapter took me 10 hours, since you're translating from VM code to assembly. Programming in assembly is a pain in the ass no matter how easy you make the assembly language. In chapter 9-10, you build the lexer and parser of the front-end of the compiler. At this point, the book gets even harder. It gives you almost no theory on how to actually build it. I needed to refer to a compiler book to help me along. I would say chapter 10 took me 20 hours alone.
Finally, chapter 11 (where I stopped), it gets nasty. You're writing a syntax-directed translator compiler.
You now write the code generator from jack to VM, and there's a lot of OS functions that it keeps calling whose functionality hasn't even been explained yet. After writing a skeleton translator (in about 10 hours), I figured I'd gotten most of what I can out of the book and stopped.
In chapter 12, you write a whole bunch of OS library functions in jack. There's very little guidance.
Overall, even though things fell apart for me at the end, I still learned so much, and I don't know where else I could have gotten this experience. It was fun (and frustrating), but I feel like I understand computers so much better now.
Highly recommend. I would estimate it takes 10 hours to read the book and 50+ hours to do the project (to the point that I did it, chapter 11).
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The Elements of Computing Systems, second edition: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles
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Donald Whitlock
Another disappointment due to lack of Proper description
Reviewed in Australia on July 26, 2020
B J
Amazing book. I have passed mid way and I ...
Reviewed in India on August 29, 2017
