General purpose computer loading into ROM

[w0051977]

I have recently purchased the book.  It looks good.  I am currently looking at the CPU emulator here: http://www.nand2tetris.org/tutorials/PDF/CPU%20Emulator%20Tutorial.pdf.  Please see the screenshot below:



I don't understand why the assembly program is loaded into ROM.  From what I understand a general purpose computer does not load programs into ROM.  It loads programs into RAM.

If this was a microcontroller then that could be different, however it is not.  It is a general purpose computer.

[cadet1620]

w0051977 wrote

I don't understand why the assembly program is loaded into ROM.  From what I understand a general purpose computer does not load programs into ROM.  It loads programs into RAM.

If this was a microcontroller then that could be different, however it is not.  It is a general purpose computer.

It's not a general purpose computer; it's a very simple learning tool.

Having separate code and data memory allows for a very simple hardware implementation without having to deal with any conflicts with instructions and data requiring simultaneous access to the RAM.

Think of it as an early model of game console with the games on ROM cartridges and no way to download new games.

--Mark

[w0051977]

Thanks.  Have I understood it correctly then? In the case of the Hack CPU: prgram instructions are loaded into ROM and data into RAM?

[cadet1620]

w0051977 wrote

Thanks.  Have I understood it correctly then? In the case of the Hack CPU: prgram instructions are loaded into ROM and data into RAM?

Yes.