Ternary Java Applets

Ternary Computer Alpha 1

To discuss this emulator or report bugs use our forum in English or in Russian

Instruction set of ternary computer 3niti alpha was designed in 2004. Control panel for it was designed in 2008 as row of 15 "ternary" red-green indicators (GREEN is +1 or P, WHITE is 0 or O, RED is -1 or N) and row of 15 "ternary" slide switches (TOP position is +1 or P, NEUTRAL position is 0 or O, BOTTOM position is -1 or N - see below for details). Now you can try emulator of this computer with simulated control panel. Computer has 3-trit data and 9-trit address. So data registers are 3-trit (1 triad) and address registers are 9-trit (3 triads). 9-trit register PC (program counter) is not available directly. Three 9-trit registers DPn, DPo and DPp (data pointers) are used to address some data in memory. Also it can be used to copy value from or to PC. Also computer has three 3-trit registers: A, B and F (flags). Ternary program can get direct access only to 3-trit data at once and we have 9 directly available 3-trit registers to do that (some of them address parts of DP registers or memory pointed by DP registers):

Id	Name	Description
-4	N	triad from memory addressed by DPn
-3	O	triad from memory addressed by DPo
-2	P	triad from memory addressed by DPp
-1	F	flag register (RSF - result sign flag, DPF - data pointer flag, BCF - borrow carry flag)
0	A	accumulator register
+1	B	auxiliary register
+2	L	lower triad of current DP register chosen by DPF
+3	M	middle triad of current DP register chosen by DPF
+4	H	higher triad of current DP register chosen by DPF

Control panel has row of 15 "ternary" red-green indicators:

Lights 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 - value of PC register (address of current operation)
Lights 10,11,12 - 3-trit data (see below)
Lights 13,14,15 - current value of A register

Also control panel has row of 15 "ternary" slide switches:

Switches 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 - some 9-trit address entered by user
Switches 10,11,12 - some 3-trit data entered by user
Switch 13 - control input/output ternary switch:
- P (top position) - using specified address write data to the memory (data lights display this 3-trit data)
- O (neutral position) - ignore address and data switches (data lights display data from memory address PC)
- N (bottom position) - ignore data switches and display data from specified address
Switch 14 - control subprogram ternary switch:
- P (top position) - interrupt main program, save current PC and jump to specified address
- O (neutral position) - do not disturb working program
- N (bottom position) - stop subprogram and restore PC to return to main program
Switch 15 - control step/run ternary switch:
- P (top position) - execute one step of the program
- O (neutral position) - pause mode
- N (bottom position) - run program from current position

Each instruction of 3niti alpha is one triad length and may have 0, 1 or 3 one-triad arguments. This is full list of instructions:

Opcode	Mnemonic	Description
#NNN (-13)	SAN	save register A to register N
#NNO (-12)	SAO	save register A to register O
#NNP (-11)	SAP	save register A to register P
#NON (-10)	SAF	save register A to register F
#NOO (-9)	SPCD	save PC (program counter) to current data pointer
#NOP (-8)	SAB	save register A to register B
#NPN (-7)	SAL	save register A to register L (lower triade of current data pointer)
#NPO (-6)	SAM	save register A to register M (middle triade of current data pointer)
#NPP (-5)	SAH	save register A to register H (higher triade of current data pointer)
#ONN (-4)	RLA	rotate register A to the left through flag BCF
#ONO (-3)	ADD	add register A with B and flag BCF, save result to A and BCF, modify sign flag RSF
#ONP (-2)	RRA	rotate register A to the right through flag BCF
#OON (-1)	LAI #	load register A from immediate triad
#OOO (0)	ADI #	add register A with immediate triad and flag BCF, save result to A and BCF, modify sign flag RSF
#OOP (1)	OPA #	perform unary "tritwise" operation over register A (function set by immediate triad), modify sign flag RSF
#OPN (2)	LDI # # #	load current data pointer by immediate 3 triads (higher, middle, lower)
#OPO (3)	JMP # # #	jump to address (put it to register PC) set by immediate 3 triads (higher, middle, lower)
#OPP (4)	OPB # # #	perform binary "tritwise" operation over registers A and B, save result to A (function set by immediate 3 triad), modify sign flag RSF
#PNN (5)	LAN	load register A from register N
#PNO (6)	LAO	load register A from register O
#PNP (7)	LAP	load register A from register P
#PON (8)	LAF	load register A from register F
#POO (9)	LPCD	load PC (program counter) from current data pointer
#POP (10)	LAB	load register A from register B
#PPN (11)	LAL	load register A from register L (lower triad of current data pointer)
#PPO (12)	LAM	load register A from register M (middle triad of current data pointer)
#PPP (13)	LAH	load register A from register H (higher triad of current data pointer)