> Console emulators (especially of the HLE variety) seem to have a similar flow.
Good insight.
I was going through this same spiel in my head the other day.
It's a flow that if properly managed can provide a good feedback system. It provides the developer positive feedback and at the same time successful milestones.
Say I'm building an emulator for a simple architecture with a few dozen opcodes...
"Alright. Let's start. Where do I start? How about NOP." So you implement NOP. You write some tests for it. Maybe you build a pretty printer into your opcode and you test it on disassembling a single byte file with a single NOP opcode.
Suddenly you have a working dissassembler! It's obviously an artificial toy, but it works.
Maybe next you add an INC instruction. Add some tests. You'll need registers...
Build a simple one INC opcode binary file. Maybe add an executor in addition to a dissassembler. Suddenly you've got registers working. And if if add another INC opcode byte, you can see your emulator changing behavior based on real external input!
And so on. It's an interesting flow, you're right.
Good insight.
I was going through this same spiel in my head the other day.
It's a flow that if properly managed can provide a good feedback system. It provides the developer positive feedback and at the same time successful milestones.
Say I'm building an emulator for a simple architecture with a few dozen opcodes...
"Alright. Let's start. Where do I start? How about NOP." So you implement NOP. You write some tests for it. Maybe you build a pretty printer into your opcode and you test it on disassembling a single byte file with a single NOP opcode.
Suddenly you have a working dissassembler! It's obviously an artificial toy, but it works.
Maybe next you add an INC instruction. Add some tests. You'll need registers...
Build a simple one INC opcode binary file. Maybe add an executor in addition to a dissassembler. Suddenly you've got registers working. And if if add another INC opcode byte, you can see your emulator changing behavior based on real external input!
And so on. It's an interesting flow, you're right.