[Edu-sig] From Nand to Tetris in 12 Steps

[Arthur]

Exciting stuff, in my view - which once gain I became aware of by monitoring
PlanetPython. This cite by Ned Batchelder

http://www.nedbatchelder.com/blog/

I would hope that folks will at least get as far as looking at the
presentation:

"From Nand to Tetris in 12 Steps"

that is linked from Ned's site.

Further exploration of the surrounding resources, authors, institutions
involved in this effort I discover an educational approach that seems
refreshingly 'reasonable', which doesn't sound like particularly high
praise, though I mean it to be.

Among other things:

A very interesting effort to provide tools to teach the low-level view of
using a high level language - a step which in my self-directed approached I
skipped, but certainly not without consequences.

"Lite" version, which might make an excellent early stage of a introductory
cs course using Python - giving orientation a bit to the forest, before the
look at the trees. 

http://www1.idc.ac.il/vic/

"""

What is Vic? 

The Visual Computer (Vic) is an interactive simulation of a general-purpose
digital computer.   The objective of Vic is to walk the student through some
of the most fundamental ideas underlying the design of modern computers.  As
a side effect of this tour, the student also gains a hands-on and friendly
introduction to programming.  In Vic, everything is done, taught, and
illustrated through computer programs, written in the Vic language.   This
language has ten commands that can be mastered in just a few minutes.  Yet
behind this simplicity lies a great power: every program, written in any
language, can be translated into an equivalent Vic program that produces
precisely the same results.

"""

Not totally dissimilar - I think - in approach to GvRobot (and its
successor) but with different lower level goals 

>From the same institute and author, the recently published 

"The Elements of Computing Systems:  
Building a Modern Computer From First Principles"

http://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/

which is more heavyweight, geared to CS and engineering students at the
college level and graduate level.