Notes for Nand2Tetris: Boolean Arithmetic and the ALU
Published at 2023-07-08
Last update over 365 days ago
Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
nand2tetris
algorithm
hardware-design
digital-logic
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note
This is a note for Nand2Tetris Unit 2.
Unit 2.2
Half Adder
Truth table:
a | b | sum | carry |
---|---|---|---|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Interface:
CHIP HalfAdder {
IN a, b;
OUT sum,
carry;
PARTS:
...
}
Idea:
sum
isa XOR b
carry
isa AND b
Full Adder
Interface:
CHIP FullAdder {
IN a, b, c;
OUT sum,
carry;
PARTS:
...
}
Unit 2.3
2’s complement
2’s complement represent negative number
- Range of positive numbers:
- Range of negative numbers:
How to compute -x
How to do this quickly?
The idea is:
where
So, the steps to compute -x is:
- Flip every bit of x;
- Plus one.
Unit 2.4
ALU: Arithmetic Logic Unit
Project 2
HalfAdder.hdl
CHIP HalfAdder {
IN a, b; // 1-bit inputs
OUT sum, // Right bit of a + b
carry; // Left bit of a + b
PARTS:
Xor(a=a, b=b, out=sum);
And(a=a, b=b, out=carry);
}
FullAdder.hdl
Use two HalfAdder
s and a OR
to combine a FullAdder
, per here.
CHIP FullAdder {
IN a, b, c; // 1-bit inputs
OUT sum, // Right bit of a + b + c
carry; // Left bit of a + b + c
PARTS:
HalfAdder(a=a, b=b, sum=ab, carry=c1);
HalfAdder(a=ab, b=c, sum=sum, carry=c2);
Or(a=c1, b=c2, out=carry);
}
Add16.hdl
CHIP Add16 {
IN a[16], b[16];
OUT out[16];
PARTS:
HalfAdder(a=a[0], b=b[0], sum=out[0], carry=c0);
FullAdder(a=a[1], b=b[1], c=c0, sum=out[1], carry=c1);
FullAdder(a=a[2], b=b[2], c=c1, sum=out[2], carry=c2);
FullAdder(a=a[3], b=b[3], c=c2, sum=out[3], carry=c3);
FullAdder(a=a[4], b=b[4], c=c3, sum=out[4], carry=c4);
FullAdder(a=a[5], b=b[5], c=c4, sum=out[5], carry=c5);
FullAdder(a=a[6], b=b[6], c=c5, sum=out[6], carry=c6);
FullAdder(a=a[7], b=b[7], c=c6, sum=out[7], carry=c7);
FullAdder(a=a[8], b=b[8], c=c7, sum=out[8], carry=c8);
FullAdder(a=a[9], b=b[9], c=c8, sum=out[9], carry=c9);
FullAdder(a=a[10], b=b[10], c=c9, sum=out[10], carry=c10);
FullAdder(a=a[11], b=b[11], c=c10, sum=out[11], carry=c11);
FullAdder(a=a[12], b=b[12], c=c11, sum=out[12], carry=c12);
FullAdder(a=a[13], b=b[13], c=c12, sum=out[13], carry=c13);
FullAdder(a=a[14], b=b[14], c=c13, sum=out[14], carry=c14);
FullAdder(a=a[15], b=b[15], c=c14, sum=out[15], carry=null); // null means deprecated
}
Inc16.hdl
This is a little tricky.
CHIP Inc16 {
IN in[16];
OUT out[16];
PARTS:
Add16(a=in, b[0]=true, out=out);
}
ALU.hdl
There are so many conditionals in this chip. How to make them? The idea is make all the results first, then choose the result we what using Mux
.
/**
* The ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit).
* Computes one of the following functions:
* x+y, x-y, y-x, 0, 1, -1, x, y, -x, -y, !x, !y,
* x+1, y+1, x-1, y-1, x&y, x|y on two 16-bit inputs,
* according to 6 input bits denoted zx,nx,zy,ny,f,no.
* In addition, the ALU computes two 1-bit outputs:
* if the ALU output == 0, zr is set to 1; otherwise zr is set to 0;
* if the ALU output < 0, ng is set to 1; otherwise ng is set to 0.
*/
// Implementation: the ALU logic manipulates the x and y inputs
// and operates on the resulting values, as follows:
// if (zx == 1) set x = 0 // 16-bit constant
// if (nx == 1) set x = !x // bitwise not
// if (zy == 1) set y = 0 // 16-bit constant
// if (ny == 1) set y = !y // bitwise not
// if (f == 1) set out = x + y // integer 2's complement addition
// if (f == 0) set out = x & y // bitwise and
// if (no == 1) set out = !out // bitwise not
// if (out == 0) set zr = 1
// if (out < 0) set ng = 1
CHIP ALU {
IN
x[16], y[16], // 16-bit inputs
zx, // zero the x input?
nx, // negate the x input?
zy, // zero the y input?
ny, // negate the y input?
f, // compute out = x + y (if 1) or x & y (if 0)
no; // negate the out output?
OUT
out[16], // 16-bit output
zr, // 1 if (out == 0), 0 otherwise
ng; // 1 if (out < 0), 0 otherwise
PARTS:
// zero the x input?
Mux16(a=x, b=false, sel=zx, out=zeroStepProcessedX);
// negate the x input?
Not16(in=zeroStepProcessedX, out=negateStepProcessedX);
Mux16(a=zeroStepProcessedX, b=negateStepProcessedX, sel=nx, out=newX);
// zero the y input?
Mux16(a=y, b=false, sel=zy, out=zeroStepProcessedY);
// negate the x input?
Not16(in=zeroStepProcessedY, out=negateStepProcessedY);
Mux16(a=zeroStepProcessedY, b=negateStepProcessedY, sel=ny, out=newY);
// (x + y) or (x & y)
Add16(a=newX, b=newY, out=xAddY);
And16(a=newX, b=newY, out=xAndY);
Mux16(a=xAndY, b=xAddY, sel=f, out=fxy);
// negate the out output?
Not16(in=fxy, out=notFxy);
Mux16(a=fxy, b=notFxy, sel=no, out=out, out[0..7]=leftOut, out[8..15]=rightOut, out[15]=negFlag);
// zr
// use two Or8Ways to transform 16 bits to 1 bits
Or8Way(in=leftOut, out=lnzr); // left not zr
Or8Way(in=rightOut, out=rnzr); // right not zr
Or(a=lnzr, b=rnzr, out=nzr);
Not(in=nzr, out=zr);
// ng
Or(a=negFlag, b=false, out=ng);
}