Difference between revisions of "Turing machine"
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== See also == | == See also == | ||
| − | * [[Alan | + | * [[Alonzo Church|Church, Alonzo]] |
| + | * [[Alan Turing|Turing, Alan]] | ||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine Turing machine] @ Wikipedia | * [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine Turing machine] @ Wikipedia | ||
Revision as of 16:39, 20 August 2015
A Turing machine is a hypothetical device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules.
Despite its simplicity, a Turing machine can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm.
At a very high level, the machine consists of a memory tape divided into cells.
A "head" (e.g. a pencil/eraser) traverses the memory one cell at a time, writing or erasing data (e.g. numerical digits) based on user-specified rules.
The "machine" was invented in 1936 by Alan Turing who called it an "a-machine" (automatic machine).
The Turing machine is not intended as practical computing technology, but rather as a hypothetical device representing a computing machine.
Turing machines help computer scientists understand the limits of mechanical computation.
Turing completeness is the ability for a system of instructions to simulate a Turing machine.
A programming language that is Turing complete is theoretically capable of expressing all tasks accomplishable by computers. Nearly all non-markup programming languages are Turing complete.
See also
External links
- Turing machine @ Wikipedia
