Cartoon characters, with their four-digit, white-gloved hands, are quite suitable as the basic building blocks of a simple calculator. Eight inflatable fingers, raised as the thumb releases them, can display a byte with values 0-255.

At 24 frames a second, the kiddy computer, even filled with such animated animals as Katie Cat and Harvey Hamster, would process hopelessly slowly and would need assistance by Kelly Kilopede in internal memory and Spiffy Spider the Webmaster.
-- FarmerJohn, Jan 05 2003

diagram detail http://www.geocitie...ohnnie/cartoon.html
[FarmerJohn, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

I was afraid I would be asked that. Maybe a high-level, cartoon graphic metafunction could give hints and display results of physically “programmed” operations and input data. Light signals could read if finger bits were on or off. Just adding two numbers would be a challenge.
-- FarmerJohn, Jan 05 2003


You could always have another character doing distinctive dance moves (pogoing for POP, running man for MOV) for each assembler statement (or other low-level operation). The 'stack' characters could be turned a bit to look at him/her, except when there was nothing to be processed, when they would stare at you and occasionally scratch themselves.

Doesn't let you enter instructions, of course, or display results. Perhaps some kind of needlessly complicated command-line interface with lots of cryptic commands and weird switches.

The unit should also play Kraftwerk.
-- Monkfish, Jan 05 2003


$ASSIGN_S DEVNAM=DEVICE,CHAN=CHANNEL

BLBC L1$

10$:

.

.

.

(routine exit)

L1$: JSB PROCESS ERROR

HALT

Sorry [FJ]. Now on the other 'hand' – quantum fingers <ducks and runs>
-- Shz, Jan 05 2003


Wow. Hard to line up code here. Remind me not to try that again.
-- Shz, Jan 05 2003


The routine – no. Quantum fingers – yes.
-- Shz, Jan 05 2003


6666? BB?
-- Shz, Jan 06 2003


Moses mosquito will animate the bytes, one for every 8 finger bits.
-- pashute, Aug 14 2003



random, halfbakery