A couple of links have caught my attention today which may suit those people who're interested in what goes on inside their home consoles but don't think they'd have the patience for a programming degree. The first, via /., is an article in Wired which covers a board game that can teach kids the same logic as that required to program a computer with the fun and hilarity of Snakes and Ladders.
The board game turns players into skiers who must race down a mountain in the quickest way possible. With each roll of the die, players must follow instructions that are similar to computer program codes. Using basic math, players have to figure out which paths are open to them and then decide the fastest way to the finish line. The trick, however, is learning which paths are open to you using only programmer jargon like "if (X==1)" then you can take the green path or "while (X<4) you can take the orange path," where X is the roll of the die.
"It's very similar to what a programmer does when they work with existing code and make decisions," [designer Igor] Kholodov said.
The second is Ben Fry's great site via Aeropause which is a deconstruction of what goes on in the game Super Mario Bros while you play it.
This is a deconstructed Nintendo emulator that shows how sprites and sprite memory are handled while a game is being played. The intent is to show insight for how software and hardware work, given the relatively simple example of a minimal architecture from an old game console system.
Neat!
