Simulating a computer in Minecraft

Since the dawn of the computer, people are using it's capabilities to run simulations. Simulations are an important tool in research, they allow a researcher to create an isolated test environment modelled after the real world. Simulations fascinate me as a reality that pops in and out of existence with the press of a button. To be able to run a simulation, an abstract layer of maths is required before a new reality can be created by the computer.

Simulations are often associated with supercomputers because they require an enormous amount of processing power to be computed. This doesn't always have to be the case. Minecraft is a computationally simple simulation that can run on any computer. Minecraft simulates, beside the gameplay, it's own kind of electrical system, called redstone. Redstone can be used to create basic electronic component, like transistors and diodes. To explore the relation between this mathematical layer of the computer and the simulation I created another simulation within Minecraft, to run this simulation I first needed a mathematical layer, I had to build a computer. As a programmer building a computer with redstone it was challenging to try and create the most basic functions like memory and computation.