non-electronic digital systems based on manipulating beans according to simple logical rules.
inspired by the beans computer, but going at a lower level. most of the times this is related to paper computing.
the computadora de papel is also related as a beans-based, "higher level" computer.
projects and prototypes
norpet is a proof-of-concept for ideas we have about beans computing in an 8x8 grid or board.
truth tables
we have only two classes of beans: black (1), and non-black (0).
these tables correspond to the NOT and NOR logical operations.
they show their possible inputs at their left, and their corresponding outputs to the right.
NOT
NOT: the output is the opposite of the input. (table at the top left)
| input | output |
|---|---|
| 0 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 |
NOR
NOR: the output is black only when none of the inputs are black. in any other case, the output is non-black. (table at the center) nor
| inputs | output |
|---|---|
| 00 | 1 |
| 01 | 0 |
| 10 | 0 |
| 11 | 0 |
if you look closely you'll see that NOT can be defined the same way as NOR.
by combining multiple instances of this logic operation, we could build any possible digital behavior.