What is a Turing Machine? A Turing machine is a mathematical model of computation that defines an abstract machine, which manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite the model’s simplicity, given any computer algorithm, a Turing machine capable of simulating that algorithm’s logic can be constructed. In other words, it’s an idea, a sort of rigorous thought-experiment. But then MICHAEL GARDI went and made the Turing Machine Demonstrator-1. It isn’t an actual Turing Machine, since that can’t exist. It’s a demonstrator. From the description:
You can find numerous Turing machine implementations on the internet that are absolutely stunning. The makers of these devices often set lofty goals for themselves, like “mechanical only solutions”, which they met and exceeded with aplomb. In my humble opinion though, the complexity of these excellent and imaginative solutions often detracted from the understanding of what a Turing machine actually does.
So my approach with this project from the onset was to demonstrate the idea of a Turing machine with as much clarity as possible. I tried to build a machine that is simple to program and easy to understand. I guess that was my lofty goal for this project.
And now he’s made the Turing Machine Demonstrator-2:
I was really happy with the way that TMD-1 turned out. I believe I succeeded in creating a Turing machine that was both “simple to program” and “easy to understand”. To help accomplish those goals, the machine itself was limited to only 3 states, 3 symbols, and a small 10 cell bounded tape. Fine for educational purposes, but a bit anemic if you want to explore Turing machines with a little more depth.
For this project I wanted to “up the ante”. I made a 6 state, 6 symbol machine, with a large tape capacity. As much as possible I tried to bring forward the simple to use, easy to understand principles from TMD-1.
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