The BitStone Processor by Austin

The BitStone Processor by Austin - April 2025 Scholarship Essay

Redstone dust, repeaters, and comparators—these electrical components in Minecraft powered my passion for Computer Engineering. After tinkering with Python for a few years, I wanted to learn the foundations of how computers functioned. Starting with the very basics, I aimed to simulate a computer from scratch in Minecraft to understand how computers work in the most cost-efficient way. What began as constructing simple logic gates escalated into a journey spanning months of designing my functional computer: the Bitstone Processor.
Following along with Ben Eater’s 8-bit computer build, I first learned how the Arithmetic Logic Unit worked. I was amazed by how logically comparing 1s and 0s could create a simple calculator. Further amplifying my excitement, I began interacting with registers to orchestrate operations between components. Finally, the computer started to take shape after running some simple math operations and storing the result into the registers—just like a real computer!
Scaling the registers to add more memory, I began to build the Random-Access Memory modules, which allowed the program to quickly access variable states on a larger scale. However, this came with many difficulties; I had to learn how the program bus worked—the component that connects each part together—as my build grew more complex. Getting familiar with computer architecture was astonishing, especially learning how each component interacted with each other independently along a single communication line.
The end was near; I just had to build the final component: the Control Unit, which was responsible for fetching instructions, decoding them, and executing them. It was essentially the conductor of the entire computer, controlling the flow of data between different components to create a beautiful symphony of flashing lights as each circuit executed its instructions. This part of the build gave me a chance to rest after the monstrous learning curve that came with implementing memory. All I needed was a simple counter to track the instruction index that would increment each tick of the program clock. Then, the control unit would fetch and execute the instruction according to the instruction index.
Finally, I tested my masterpiece by running the Fibonacci sequence, where each number in the sequence is the sum of the two preceding ones. I marveled as it correctly displayed the first seven digits: 0112358. Months of work had finally paid off, and the learning experience that complemented it was priceless.
Only through this complex journey of building my computer from scratch allowed me to truly appreciate how advanced, and impressive, computers have become today. At first glance, it’s easy to overlook the seemingly simple screen on our devices over the intricate system that lies beneath—until you’re the one troubleshooting a missing wire in a sea of connections that brings the entire system to a halt.
This experience deepened my appreciation for computational thinking—starting from abstract logic gates to an elegant masterpiece of a microprocessor. This reinforced my commitment to developing innovative technologies that one day might change the world, sparking a passion that has motivated me to continue learning, experimenting, and revolutionizing in the field of Computer Science and Engineering.