Gawddayum, son... well, thanks for the explanation !!
Wow, that is a fulsome explanation.
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
.
See, computers had for a very long time been obsessed with miniaturization, smaller phones, smaller towers, and so on (until we learned we could play games and watch p0rn on our smartphones, then phones started growing again)
There is now a space in the Minecraft Redstoner (one who mostly plays around with redstone) community that has been obsessed with miniaturization.
It has gotten to the point where they've integrated an actual technique I learned in
COLLEGE into high-level Redstone circuitry: Karnaugh Mapping.
It is a tool we use in circuit design to determine the absolute minimum number of logic gates needed to produce a given output.
It begins with a Boolean Expression, which is converted into a truth table, which is converted into a Karnaugh map via Gray Code (aka reflected binary, a version of binary code where each step up in value requires the modification of a single character, only. This is useful for in one instance, error detection/prevention)
The Karnaugh map is structured a little bit like a crossword puzzle. You write 1's and 0's (and sometimes an "it doesn't matter" character) in the cells of a Karnaugh map, with ascending gray code written in the column and row headings.
You write a "1" wherever multiple parts of the truth table overlap. If A and B are both one in part of the truth table, a 1 goes in that cell on the karnaugh map (there's complexity I'm not going into here, read it on wikipedia or take Intro to Digital Electronics at the College of Lake County)
The final step is to group the 1s in as few groups as possible, then these groupings inform what logic gates are actually necessary for the desired function, and which are not.
I don't know if Comp Sci students learn karnaugh mapping, as it's several levels of abstraction deeper than the coding most of us associate with computer science degrees. Closer to the machine code which is almost incomprehensible to a human, than something like a programming language, which are porpoise built to take care of some of those levels of abstraction. Wanna know something """FUN"""? learn Assembly Language (like, one or maybe two layers removed from raw, unfiltered,
nigh incomprehensible machine code) which I learned in my microprocessors class.
Edit: I forgot to mention why Redstoners are using Karnaugh mapping.
Turns out, they've figured out how to use Karnaugh mapping to find the smallest possible size of a redstone circuit as well.
Edit2: I actually am not sure if "closer to the machine code" is the right term for what Boolean function minimization via Karnaugh mapping is... It doesn't really have anything to do with coding, maybe you could use it to minimize the number of boolean instructions for a PLC logic ladder, or for relay ladder logic (if anybody still does that rather than using a PLC) but I've only ever used Karnaugh mapping to miniaturize a logic circuit on the breadboard.
The assignment was to make a circuit that would display a sequence of different numbers on an LED seven-segment display, and each student got a different code, that way we would actually have to use Karnaugh mapping to figure out how many and where to connect the logic gates.
I remember I had trouble because some of the displays were common ground, and others were common Vcc, and the individual segment pins would be either sinking or sourcing depending on which of the two flavors you grabbed, and they were all mixed together, which was frustrating. If memory serves, I didn't have much trouble with the Karnaugh technique, just the components... That was a couple semesters ago though...
