The latest articles on DEV Community by Lucas (@lucas_2aaddfecf7bf095b515). https://dev.to/lucas_2aaddfecf7bf095b515 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4174153%2F04c9e7e2-5ce7-45b0-97ec-974d8fb7083b.png https://dev.to/lucas_2aaddfecf7bf095b515 en Lucas Fri, 09 Oct 2026 19:55:40 +0000 https://dev.to/lucas_2aaddfecf7bf095b515/i-built-an-8-bit-cpu-from-nand-gates-and-it-runs-tetris-1f1g https://dev.to/lucas_2aaddfecf7bf095b515/i-built-an-8-bit-cpu-from-nand-gates-and-it-runs-tetris-1f1g <p>I just finished a side project I’m pretty proud of: a complete 8-bit CPU built from a single building block, the NAND gate.</p> <p> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O8znJoZkAmw" width="710" height="399"> </iframe> </p> <p>How it’s built</p> <p>From NAND gates I made the basic logic gates, then adders, registers and memory, all the way up to a full CPU. Everything runs in Digital Logic Sim, a free logic simulator, so there’s no hardware to buy.</p> <p>8-bit ALU (numbers from 0 to 255)<br> 16-bit addressing, so 64K of RAM<br> 800 kHz clock<br> A small OS running Snake, Breakout, Flappy Bird and Tetris, playable live with the keyboard<br> The software side</p> <p>Writing programs in binary by hand got painful very quickly. So I wrote my own programming language and a compiler that outputs the program memory contents directly.</p> <p>What’s next</p> <p>I’m thinking about a step-by-step tutorial series on building your own CPU from the NAND gate. Would that interest you? Let me know in the comments!</p> showdev computerscience hardware compilers