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At the transistor level? I assume this means that each transistor is simulated digitally, as a pure switch, and not as an analog component, which I imagine would be near impossible to do in Javascript on current hardware.

Not the most practical way to emulate a CPU, but surely a good exercise in learning how a processor works from the component level on up.



Yes, according to the FAQ, it is a digital simulation, with no delays.

Notably, the description of the 6502 was reverse engineered from die photographs.


I assume this means that each transistor is simulated digitally, as a pure switch, and not as an analog component, which I imagine would be near impossible to do in Javascript on current hardware.

Thought this for the longest time, too, but reality can't be simulated on a computer. Only a simplified model can.


Maybe not exactly, but you can get pretty damn close. The digital audio guys are the ones who are really into this. It's the only way to get the exact feel of old audio gear.

http://www.simulanalog.org/

An amp is much simpler than a microchip but the ideas are there:

http://dafx.labri.fr/main/papers/p169.pdf


> Maybe not exactly, but you can get pretty damn close.

Pretty different things those two, if you consider chaos theory.

Still, computers are by design created in a way which can be easily modeled.


> I imagine would be near impossible to do in Javascript on current hardware.

In JavaScript, most probably. But on current hardware, just perhaps. You can't forget the immense floating-point power we have compositing polygons on our displays... GPUs could be used to simulate such a system close to real time, I guess (didn't do the math on that).




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