Part 0: Foundations
Before we write a single line of assembly, we need to understand the tools and the machine.
Lessons
| # | Lesson | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Number Systems — Binary, Hexadecimal, and You | ✅ Complete |
| 02 | Meet Stella — Your Debugger and Best Friend | ✅ Complete |
| 03 | Anatomy of the Atari 2600 | ✅ Complete |
What You'll Learn
Part 0 builds the mental toolkit you'll need before touching the 2600's hardware:
- Lesson 01 teaches you to think in binary and hexadecimal — the number systems that the 2600 speaks
- Lesson 02 introduces Stella, the emulator and debugger where you'll test every program you write
- Lesson 03 reveals the architecture of the machine — three chips, 128 bytes of RAM, and a lot of clever engineering
Once you've completed these three lessons, you'll be ready to start programming the 6502 CPU in Part 1.