Name: The pattern on the stone
ISBN: 9780465066933

The pattern on the stone

Daniel Hillis offers an easy-to-follow explanation of how data is processed that makes the operation of a computer seem as straightforward as those of a bicycle. Hillis proceeds from an outline of basic logic to clear descriptions of programming languages, algorithms and memory. He then takes readers in simple steps up to the most exciting developments in computing today - quantum computing, parallel computing, neural networks, and self-organizing systems.

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drivers99May 2026

I did nand2tetris a couple times, but it emphasizes simplicity in every level of abstraction. That in itself is an amazing lesson and has been an inspiration, but that also means it skips things like microcode. In college (in the 1990s) I took a EE class as part of my CS degree that went through how an 8086-like[0] CPU is made, a lot like nand2tetris but without necessarily making each part an assignment. It did cover how microcode worked where there was an internal program counter that stepped through a table of control words whose bits directly orchestrated each controllable piece of the CPU. We each got an instruction to implement on a simulator that the teacher had made previously. (I got DEC, decrement.)

In a way I guess the instructions in nand2tetris are the microcode. The bits of the instructions directly control the hardware with the first bit choosing 2 instruction types, so there’s only 1 step of code per instruction, unlike with microcode where an instruction can have any number of microcode steps.

In Ben Eater’s series of videos building an 8-bit CPU on breadboards he has ROMs that are indexed by the opcode (4 bits of the instruction) + a step counter to determine the control word. The ROM stands in for what could be done with sufficiently complicated logic gates. I like it as a next step on the hardware side as you get hands on experience with electronics and having to troubleshoot it.

It’s disappointing how it only has 16 bytes of RAM so you can’t really build higher levels of abstraction like you can with nand2tetris. But at that point you could (I should) either redo it with a better design (and put it on PCBs) or move on to the 6502 project, and then since that puts together a timer, CPU, ROM, RAM, I/O, UART, etc. mentally group those together and move on to microcontrollers that already have them together.

Anyone interested in reading about how a CPU could be made out of logic gates could also read Code by Charles Petzold (moves slower, recently updated) and/or Pattern on the Stone by Danny Hillis (moves faster).

Edit: I just checked Code (2nd edition) and that uses a 4 bit cycle counter and hard logic gates to determine what to do each cycle. But then it uses an array of diodes for part of the logic. Would that be considered microcode?

[0] there were classes that covered more advanced (pipelined) CPUs in another CS class but not at quite a low level where you felt like you could make one yourself

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sargstuffMay 2025

Most of theses have free online versions available:

The New Turing Omnibus, 66 Excursions in Computer Science[1]

Code Complete [2]

Debugging The 9 Indispensable Rules of Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems [3]

The Pattern on the Stone [4]

The Tinkertoy Computer and Other Machinations ... [8]

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#5, #6 & #7 approach from different directions and "meet in middle":

   Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software [5]

   Nand2Tetris[6]

   The Little Schemer and Understanding Computation [7]

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?? Links to 'editor'/ide cheetsheets ??

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[1] : https://www.amazon.com/New-Turing-Omnibus-Sixty-Six-Excursio...

[2] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Complete

[3] : https://www.amazon.com/Debugging-Indispensable-Software-Hard...

[4] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pattern_on_the_Stone

[5] : https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softw...

[6] : https://www.nand2tetris.org/

[7] : https://vpb.smallyu.net/%5BType%5D%20books/The%20Little%20Sc...

[8] : https://www.amazon.com/Tinkertoy-Computer-Other-Machinations...

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When semester of programming projects isn't enough / couldn't wait for the programming langauge of choice : https://exercism.org/

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KerrickMar 2025

Read books. Like, a lot of them.

Start with Make It Stick (Brown et al.). Apply what this book teaches you to every one afterwards.

Next, read and work through Exercises for Programmers (Hogan) and A Common Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms (Wengrow).

After you finish those two, read The Missing README (Riccomini et al.) and Extreme Programming Explained (Beck et al.). These two books provide very different viewpoints into the stuff that isn’t coding in a programming job.

Assuming you’re using an OO language, follow that up with Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications (Booch et al.) and Object Thinking. They contrast each other quite a bit; having both perspectives is handy.

Once you’re through all those, I recommend Tidy First (Beck), Implementation Patterns (Beck), and Test-Driven Development By Example (Beck). These three books of his provide an incredibly accessible view into better ways to code.

If you’re anything like me you get bored reading one book for too long. I’ve found that having a second book going that I can switch to is great for that. A parallel track with The Pattern On the Stone (Hillis), The Pragmatic Programmer (Thomas & Hunt), The Mythical Man-Month (Brooks), and How Computers Really Work (Justice) provides a reprieve and some technical and cultural context.

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breckSep 2024

Danny Hillis wrote The Pattern on the Stone, one of my favorite books of all time, so I was very excited to see this essay.

Wow, I was not disappointed.

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breckAug 2024

Thanks!

Also any relation to author of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pattern_on_the_Stone ? (one of my all time favorite books)

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jiriroMay 2023

The Pattern on the Stone by W. Daniel Hillis [1]

This book shocked me with the idea of a universal computer:-)