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I still remember how much fun I had programming on early microcomputers such as the TRS-80, Apple II, Commodore PET and Atari 800. Since then, computers have become much more powerful but they have lost the simplicity that made them so easy to understand.
There is an open source project called "simpleJ" to provide that kind of learning environment on modern computers.
From the simpleJ web site: (at www.simplej.org)
"simpleJ emulates a simplified computer on your PC: a retro-style video game console that lets you understand how a computer works and write your own video game programs. The first microcomputers were quite simple. They had a few kilobytes of memory and couldn't run large programs. Many didn't even have an operating system. Yet they had something valuable: understanding everything about their hardware and software was easy. simpleJ aims to make this possible while running on modern PC hardware."
