The trendy net browser is now way over a factor for rendering net pages, it’s a multi-faceted setting that may present a house for nearly any software you may think about. However why ought to JavaScript or Wasm have all of the enjoyable? CSS is Turing full now, proper? Why not, as [Lyra Rebane] has finished, write an 8086 emulator in pure CSS?
The online web page on the hyperlink above might comprise an 8086, however lacking MMU apart, don’t count on it to run Linux simply but. As a substitute it has restricted assets, simply sufficient to run a demo program. It wants a Chrome-adjacent browser as a result of it makes use of some CSS capabilities not accessible in for instance Firefox, however we’ll forgive it that oddity. Its clock is offered by a small piece of JavaScript not as a result of CSS can’t present one, however as a result of the JS model is extra secure.
On one hand that is of little sensible use, however to dismiss it as such is to thoroughly miss the purpose. It’s within the superb spirit of experimentation, and we find it irresistible. Maybe a greater manner to have a look at it’s to see what could possibly be finished extra effectively with the identical concept. A Nineteen Seventies CISC microprocessor may not be the only option, however would for instance a minimalist and optimized RISC design be extra succesful? We’re wanting ahead to the place others take this thread.
It’s not the primary surprising computing setting we’ve discovered, who may neglect the DOOM calculator!
Header: Thomas Nguyen, CC BY-SA 4.0.
