So I’ve had this idea for years now, it’s a book I’ve wanted to write called, “Build a Computer in Your Head”. It’s about actually building the components of a computer in your imagination, connecting them up, in your imagination and then running a program. All in your imagination!
Ben Eater has done some wonder work in this area for the more practically minded person. I’ve bought his complete 8-bit Bread Board Computer and have yet to assemble it.
I’m not sure if BCIYH is possible. I have a rough sketch of what would need to be done. It would require a lot of diagrams. Perhaps some video. A mini simulator would be good too.
I wonder if there would be any market for such a thing. It would necessarily need to be about as complex as needed to do the actual thing. So precision and accuracy would be needed, no hand waving. However, simplicity would have to a core feature too. We’re talking about fitting a simulated computer inside your head! Chunking would be a necessity, though I don’t think that’s cheating.
In a effort to find more sources and deepen my understanding of the subject I found this interview between Jordan Peterson and Jim Keller. It’s a long form interview and the main part about how computers work starts about half way through (here: time stamp 1:01), though I recommend you watch it all, to get valuable history and context.
That’s all folks, have a lovely day!