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Considering we can implement and simulate a Turing machine and get actual calculations, how do you consider them to be completely abstract/theoretical?
by andoando 1y ago
Considering we can implement and simulate a Turing machine and get actual calculations, how do you consider them to be completely abstract/theoretical?
- DonaldPShimoda 1y agoA Turing machine is not a real device; I suggest reading the Wikipedia article on abstract machines [0], which says verbatim: "Turing machines, for example, are some of the most fundamental abstract machines in computer science." Abstract/theoretical doesn't mean "doesn't do anything practical". Labeling gravity as a "theory" doesn't mean that it doesn't hold things to the surface of the Earth. The Turing machine is a model of computation that is so simple (so abstract) that we can implement it with a pencil and paper very easily, and it can be used for actual calculation, but it is not — and never was — a literal device that existed physically. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_machine