I'm trying to build a virtual or emulated machine, essentially a MicroComputer emulator that runs in a C/C++ terminal. My main challenge is figuring out how to translate the various components of a computer—like the CPU, PPU, and BUS—into code. I've looked at the source code for Nestopia, but honestly, it was overwhelming and didn't help much. I also asked for guidance before, but it wasn't very useful, so now I'm reaching out for tips from experienced programmers about basic computer architecture and emulation.
1 Answer
Start by creating a Chip 8 emulator. It’s a relatively simple project that you can tackle in a weekend or so and it will give you a good grasp of how emulation works. Check out the Chip 8 Wikipedia page for some resources. Begin with a disassembler to ensure you're parsing the instructions correctly, then explore the memory map and read a ROM file. Once you can identify and print the instructions, you can move to executing the code itself. That’s the fundamental fetch-execute cycle of a computer!
What exactly is a "Disassembler" and what do you mean by "Parsing"?