Years ago through HN I got introduced to Richard Buckland's course at UNSW on YouTube. It featured a microprocessor called the e-4917 which has always captivated me.<p>The reason is because I'm from a generation that learned programming in Java / Python and PHP. Which are higher languages that do not require knowledge about the way the "metal" works.<p>I've always been jealous of people who got to get their start in assembly, they seem to have a deeper understanding of the computer itself. Whereas I only barely understand the "higher" software parts of the computer.<p>So when I came across Buckland's videos's it was like this part of the computer was finally revealed to me. Seeing the CPU's interact with the memory taught me a valuable lesson:<p>That at the lowest level what is in a memory "cell" can be both an instructions to a program or the data used in a program.<p>I hope that with this post I can reach someone how used to be like me, and get them to a lower level.<p>PS: I also wrote a part two explaining how I programmed the emulator using React and TypeScript:<p><a href="https://www.maartenhus.nl/blog/fantasy-cpu-emulator-part-2" rel="nofollow">https://www.maartenhus.nl/blog/fantasy-cpu-emulator-part-2</a>