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Flick the switch and the piston actuates, pushing or pulling the Redstone Block (the red cube) so that it contacts one or the other lamp. For instance, the image to the right shows an OR gate. Very early on it was realized that you can use Minecraft’s Redstone elements to make simple circuits and logic gates. Wiring takes the form of “redstone dust” that is sprinkled in trails above and next to the blocks to be powered. There are switches, lamps, comparators, repeaters, and other elements also found in the EE world. Minecraft’s analog for electronics is Redstone, a magical ore filled with uh… magical power that somewhat resembles electricity. It appeals to all age levels and it can be played with or without monsters and fighting, making it a favorite among kids of all nerdiness levels. Since its debut, Minecraft has become known as an engineer’s game - complicated structures can be built with a variety of materials, and different elements work together following very readily understood rules. Indulge Me While I Go Down the Cubiform Rabbit Hole for a Moment Ironically, it took a game to really do a good job at immersing people in an engineering-rich environment. Put bluntly, they do not address software’s logical structure at all - you can’t see an if/else or while work on the screen. Where do you look if you want to better visualize what’s happening in a program? You can’t drop a RPi icon with a Python script on it into one of these simulators, and it’s a damned shame. What they don’t do is help you wrap your noggin around programmable components. These all help the human mind visualize what’s going on with all of those electrons. Al Williams did a great dive into understanding logic circuits with it not long after that.
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And of course we here at Hackaday have been in love with Falstad since discovering it a few years ago. SPICE programs allow engineers to prototype circuits on the schematic level. There are more serious tools that do a good job of helping engineers design circuits. It also, notably, lacks the measurements that make it more than a novelty. Circuit123 claims to offer the ability to visualize electrical activity in a circuit but it’s almost a joke - there’s an LED that appears to light up, and a motor with a turning shaft, and that’s pretty much it. On the lower end, some online layout programs have rudimentary connectivity indicators - in Fritzing the contact point turns green once it’s connected, or red if contact is broken. They’re not a substitute for practical testing, but are crucial to helping the engineer understand the abstract concepts that pop up in electron theory. Of course major EE programs do in fact have circuit simulation built right in.
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This goes way beyond simple circuits and easily hops back and forth over the divide between hardware logic and software logic.Ĭircuit simulation is a very cool idea - arrange virtual electronic components on the screen and test the circuit prior to assembly. But chances are you never tried some of the really incredible things Minecraft can do when it comes to understanding logic structures. I know what you’re thinking… a lot of people think Minecraft is getting long in the tooth. But the one I’m reaching for is Minecraft. There are a myriad of tools out there that I could pick up to satisfy this compulsion. I’ve got virtual circuits on the mind lately.