xTuringMachine.sea.hqx xTuringMachine David J. Eck Hobart and William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY 14456 eck@hws.edu From the author's description: A Turing Machine is an type of computing device invented in the 1930s by Alan Turning. Turing Machines are not meant to be built physically. They are "abstract machines" meant to be studied on the theoretical level. The individual steps in a Turing Machine's computations are almost ridiculously simple. Nevertheless, Turing Machines can solve any problem that can be solved by any real computer. The best way to understand Turing Machines--and to convince yourself of their computational power--is to watch them compute. The xTuringMachine program allows you to program Turing Machines and watch as they carry out their programs. The interface is very simple and easy to use and understand. The rules are easy to construct, and the running of the machine can be done automatically or step-by-step. At any point, the "operator" can modify the values on the tape, the state of the machine, etc., allowing for easy modifations and answering "what if" questions. The readme file contains good instructions, and several sample machines are included. Tested on a PowerMac 7100 running system 7.5.1 with no problems. -------------------------------------------------------------- Location in Mathematics Archives: Anonymous FTP: /mac/discreteMath /mac/logic /mac/miscellaneous Gopher: (First select "Software" then "Macintosh software arranged by subjects") Discrete Math / xTuringMachine Logic / xTuringMachine Miscellaneous / xTuringMachine --------------------------------------------------------------