picoComputer is a computer architecture developed by Dr Jozo Dujmović in 1989, to aid teaching of assembly languages. Along with the architecture design, Dr Dujmović developed a DOS application called "pC Assembler and Simulator", or pCAS for short.

Being written more than twenty years ago, pCAS is very outdated. Although, it can still run on 32-bit Windows operating systems and under DOS emulators like DOSBox, it is not the most convenient way to write applications today. Assembly programming can sometimes be frustrating, especially to the students who never encountered it before. That's why it is important for the development environment to be as user-friendly as possible.

You can download a copy of pCAS from the Download section.

The pC architecture itself, however, is still relevant today. It was never meant to be able to compete with the current platforms, but rather to provide a framework for demonstrating low-level programming.

It is worth noting that the basic principles of the computer technology didn't change much, if at all, since its inception. Sure enough, speeds increased, number of used components sky-rocketed, various optimizations were applied on many levels, different instruction sets and accompanying philosophies were developed and then abandoned, but the most basic principles that the picoComputer architecture is capable of demonstrating, remained.

This section does into details of the picoComputer arhitecture and its instruction set.