9.3 TURING’S THESIS
The preceding discussion not only shows how a Turing machine can be constructed from simpler parts, but it also illustrates a negative aspect of working with such low-level automata. While it takes very little imagination or ingenuity to translate a block diagram or pseudocode into the corresponding Turing machine program, actually doing it is time-consuming, error-prone, and adds little to our understanding. The instruction set of a Turing machine is so restricted that any argument, solution, or proof for a nontrivial problem is quite tedious.
We now face a dilemma: We want to claim that Turing machines can perform not only the simple operations for which we have provided explicit programs, but also more complex processes ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access