Someone built a working 8086 CPU emulator using CSS — the language used to make buttons blue and move divs three pixels to the left on the web.

It's called x86 CSS. It takes a small C program, compiles it to 8086 machine code, and executes those instructions inside a stylesheet. It tracks the processor's memory and registers using new CSS features — conditions and custom functions — that browsers only recently started supporting.

It's not a full modern processor, but it emulates enough of the original 8086 to run small programs and works in Chromium. JavaScript can drive a faster clock, but with JavaScript disabled, CSS animations still keep the processor ticking on their own.

So the language we use to style buttons can now compile and execute C code. Front-end development has escaped containment.

#CSS #Programming #WebDev #FrontEndDev #DevTrivia

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A developer built an x86 CPU emulator entirely in CSS, using new CSS features like conditional logic and custom functions to track processor memory and registers. It compiles small C programs into real 8086 machine code and executes them inside a stylesheet, currently working in Chromium. JavaScript is not required — CSS animations alone keep the processor running.

Someone Built a CPU Using CSS

Excuse me what… LOL The fact that you can do this with CSS now is kinda mind-blowing. Keep 'em coming I say, loving the new features rolling out lately, especially animations tied to scroll drools Intersection observers were kinda annoying =P

Guess React-in-CSS is possible now

Building an x86 emulator in pure CSS is both technically impressive and wonderfully unconventional

Center a div? Nah,
Emulate an x86 CPU in CSS ? hell yeah.