# Nand2Tetris

31 Hacker News commenters recommended Nand2Tetris and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a hands-on way to learn how computers work, from logic gates up to compilers. Critics note it skips microcode.

## Why people recommend it

- Explains computers from logic gates up (6 comments): "nothing ever explained the whole domain from logic gates and inner workings of a CPU to compilers better than this course" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47777405)) "if you want to get to at least the bottom most visible turtle you go with something like NAND to Tetris" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49713051)) "You get a view from nand-gate to software and get to see all the interfaces." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48872068))
- Hands-on projects make concepts stick (4 comments): "If you work through a math problem with pen and paper or nand2tetris or nandgame.com then it becomes obvious" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686184)) "I combined it with a visual logic simulator so I could actually see the structures beyond the VHDL." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48109703)) "NAND2TETRIS is fun . For an experienced programmer the difficulty is almost akin to a game." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45965553))
- Free course for self-learners (3 comments): "You can get a rough idea of what you're getting into by going through the NAND2Tetris self-learning course" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46150986)) "An abridged version of this book is available for free in the form of the Nand2Tetris course." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46868098)) "For people that don't have access to a uni, I recommend nand2tetris.org" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48247100))
- Clear explanations of abstractions (3 comments): "Prof. Schocken and Prof. Nisan are amazing at breaking down the concepts and abstractions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49694402)) "Definitely one of, if not the, most impactful bit of education I’ve ever done" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49694260)) "has been my favorite "computers are not magic" course for a long time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46953123))

## What people warn about

- Skips microcode and low-level details (1 comments): "that in itself is an amazing lesson and has been an inspiration, but that also means it skips things like microcode" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48247660))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Math Academy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/math-academy.md): 35 recommend
- [Neural Networks: Zero to Hero by Andrej Karpathy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/neural-networks-zero-to-hero.md): 29 recommend
- [CS193p SwiftUI course by Paul Hegarty](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cs193p-swiftui-course.md): 13 recommend
- [CS336: Language Modeling from Scratch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cs336-language-modeling-from-scratch.md): 12 recommend
- [CS50 by Harvard](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cs50.md): 11 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.nand2tetris.org/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Nand2Tetris", https://hackerapproved.com/p/nand2tetris/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).