⚡ NanoTekSpice

A digital electronics simulator

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📖 About

NanoTekSpice is a logic simulator that parses circuit description files (.nts) and simulates digital electronic components using tri-state logic (True, False, Undefined).

The program builds a virtual circuit from a configuration file, then provides an interactive shell to manipulate inputs, run simulations and observe output states in real-time.

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🏗️ Architecture

The project follows a clean OOP architecture leveraging interfaces, abstract classes, and the Factory design pattern:

┌─────────────┐
│ IComponent  │  ← Pure interface
└──────┬──────┘
       │
┌──────▼──────┐
│ AComponent  │  ← Abstract base class (common logic, link management)
└──────┬──────┘
       │
       ├──── Elementary Gates (AND, OR, NOT, XOR)
       ├──── Chipset Components (4001, 4011, 4030, 4069, 4071, 4081)
       └──── Special Components (Input, Output, True, False, Clock)

Key Design Patterns

Pattern	Usage
Interface (IComponent)	Defines the contract for all components (compute, simulate, setLink…)
Abstract Class (AComponent)	Implements shared behavior: pin management, bidirectional linking, error handling
Factory	Creates components dynamically from type strings via a lambda registry
Composite	Chipset components (4xxx) are composed of elementary gates internally

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🔌 Supported Components

Special Components

Component	Description
input	User-defined input, value set via CLI
output	Displays the computed result of the circuit
true	Constant — always outputs 1
false	Constant — always outputs 0
clock	Alternating signal, toggles state on each simulation tick

Elementary Gates

Gate	Logic
and	Output is 1 only if both inputs are 1
or	Output is 1 if at least one input is 1
not	Inverts the input signal
xor	Output is 1 if inputs are different

Chipset Components (4000 series)

Chipset	Type	Pins	Description
4001	NOR	14	Quad 2-input NOR gates
4011	NAND	14	Quad 2-input NAND gates
4030	XOR	14	Quad 2-input XOR gates
4069	NOT	14	Hex inverter (6 NOT gates)
4071	OR	14	Quad 2-input OR gates
4081	AND	14	Quad 2-input AND gates

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🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• g++ with C++20 support
• GNU Make

Build

make            # Build the project
make re         # Clean rebuild
make fclean     # Remove binary and object files

Run

./nanotekspice <circuit_file.nts>

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📄 Circuit File Format (.nts)

Circuit files describe components and their connections:

# This is a comment

.chipsets:
input   a
input   b
and     gate
output  s

.links:
a:1     gate:1
b:1     gate:2
gate:3  s:1

• .chipsets: — Declares the components with their type and name
• .links: — Connects component pins together (name:pin)
• # — Lines starting with # are comments

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💻 Interactive Shell

Once the circuit is loaded, NanoTekSpice provides an interactive prompt:

> 

Available Commands

Command	Description
exit	Closes the program
display	Shows the current tick, input values and output values
simulate	Advances the simulation by one tick
loop	Continuously simulates until interrupted (Ctrl+C)
<name>=<value>	Sets an input component's value (0, 1, or U)

Example Session

> a=1
> b=1
> simulate
> display
tick: 1
input(s):
  a: 1
  b: 1
output(s):
  s: 1
> b=0
> simulate
> display
tick: 2
input(s):
  a: 1
  b: 0
output(s):
  s: 0
> exit

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📂 Project Structure

.
├── main.cpp                          # Entry point
├── Makefile                          # Build system
├── include/
│   └── my.hpp                        # Global includes & My_Struct definition
├── class/
│   ├── IComponent.hpp                # Component interface
│   ├── AComponent.hpp / .cpp         # Abstract component base class
│   ├── Factory.hpp / .cpp            # Component factory (lambda registry)
│   ├── FileParser.hpp / .cpp         # .nts file parser
│   ├── ParserCli.hpp / .cpp          # Interactive CLI handler
│   ├── Fileloader.hpp                # File loading utility
│   └── Tristate.hpp                  # Tri-state enum (True, False, Undefined)
├── components/
│   ├── AndComponent.hpp / .cpp       # AND gate
│   ├── OrComponent.hpp / .cpp        # OR gate
│   ├── NotComponent.hpp / .cpp       # NOT gate
│   ├── XorComponent.hpp / .cpp       # XOR gate
│   ├── special/
│   │   ├── InputComponent.hpp / .cpp
│   │   ├── OutputComponent.hpp / .cpp
│   │   ├── TrueComponent.hpp / .cpp
│   │   ├── FalseComponent.hpp / .cpp
│   │   └── ClockComponent.hpp / .cpp
│   └── gate_components/
│       ├── C4001.hpp / .cpp          # Quad NOR
│       ├── C4011.hpp / .cpp          # Quad NAND
│       ├── C4030.hpp / .cpp          # Quad XOR
│       ├── C4069.hpp / .cpp          # Hex NOT
│       ├── C4071.hpp / .cpp          # Quad OR
│       └── C4081.hpp / .cpp          # Quad AND

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⚙️ Tri-State Logic

NanoTekSpice uses a tri-state value system to accurately model real digital electronics:

Value	Meaning
True (1)	Logic high
False (0)	Logic low
Undefined (U)	Unknown / not yet computed

This allows the simulator to correctly propagate undefined states through the circuit when inputs haven't been set.

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