# 492: Octopus Army

- Show: [Embedded.fm](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm)
- Published: 2024-12-27
- Length: 1h 09m
- Episode: 492
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-12-27-492-octopus-army
- Listen: https://embedded.fm/episodes/492

## Summary

Nathan Jones, an active-duty Army officer and West Point instructor, discusses his proposal for a computer architecture book centered on the Voja4, a 4-bit computer built from the 2022 Hackaday SuperCon badge. He explains the educational value of physical hardware over simulation, comparing his approach to 'Nand to Tetris' and 'Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach,' while also sharing his experience overhauling a university curriculum. The conversation covers the challenges of writing technical books, the importance of understanding low-level architecture for debugging, and the results of a community survey regarding the Embedded.fm podcast.

## Chapters

- [0:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-12-27-492-octopus-army#t=6) Introduction and Background
- [6:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-12-27-492-octopus-army#t=363) The Voja4 Badge and Book Proposal
- [14:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-12-27-492-octopus-army#t=844) Teaching Computer Architecture at West Point
- [17:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-12-27-492-octopus-army#t=1020) The Value of Low-Level Knowledge for Debugging
- [31:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-12-27-492-octopus-army#t=1861) Book Proposal Details and Audience
- [50:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-12-27-492-octopus-army#t=3044) Embedded.fm Community Survey Results

## Topics

- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Creator business](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/creator-business)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch

## Mentioned

- Voja4 (product)
- Hackaday SuperCon (other)
- Nand to Tetris (product)
- Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach (product)
- Introduction to Computing Systems (product)
- MicroPython (product)
- CircuitPython (product)
- Raspberry Pi 2040 (product)
- O'Reilly (company)
- Tindie (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [An Interview with Ben Eater](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-05-27-an-interview-with-ben-eater) (The Amp Hour)
- [The Secret Life of Circuits with lcamtuf / Michał Zalewski](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2026-06-04-the-secret-life-of-circuits-with-lcamtuf-micha-zalewski) (The Amp Hour)
- [Old Books, New Tricks - Iterant Inscription Irrationality](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2015-02-27-old-books-new-tricks-iterant-inscription-irrationality) (The Amp Hour)
- [Books in the Box V](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-10-31-books-in-the-box-v) (Oxide and Friends)
- [OxF 2024 Wrap-Up](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2024-12-30-oxf-2024-wrap-up) (Oxide and Friends)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-12-27-492-octopus-army. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Embedded.fm.