Simplified core war for introducing low-level concepts
Dino Schweitzer, David Gibson, Leemon C. Baird · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2008
Assembly language programming is often used to teach students low-level hardware components and computer architecture basics. To introduce some of the basic concepts of program execution in memory, we have developed a very simple language based on Core War, a programming game developed in the 1980's pitting competing programs against each other in a simulated memory. We have built a visual development environment that allows students to create a program, see its representation in memory, step through the program's execution, and simulate a battle of competing programs in a visual memory environment. This paper will describe the language, the environment, the competition simulator, and our experience.