Turing Machines

 Turing Machines (Turing 1936)

– Uses unlimited memory as an infinite tape which can be read/written and moved to left or
right
– Only model thus far that can model general purpose computers – Church-Turing thesis
– Still, TM cannot solve all problems

Turing machines, first described by Alan Turing in Turing 1936–7, are simple abstract
computational devices intended to help investigate the extent and limitations of what can
be computed. Turing’s ‘automatic machines’, as he termed them in 1936, were specifically
devised for the computing of real numbers. They were first named ‘Turing machines’ by
Alonzo Church in a review of Turing’s paper (Church 1937). Today, they are considered to
be one of the foundational models of computability and (theoretical) computer science.
A Turing machine is a theoretical machine that manipulates symbols on a tape strip, based
on a table of rules. Even though the Turing machine is simple, it can be tailored to replicate the
logic associated with any computer algorithm. It is also particularly useful for describing the CPU
functions within a computer.