Turing Machine

Turing machine simulator written in C++

Install

Compile the program with make on UNIX systems. Can also be compiled on windows manually with cl. The program includes a ncurses GUI, so make sure you have the appropriate header files (libncurses-dev on Ubuntu)

Usage

If you run the program with no arguments, it will start in command line mode. If you run it with the parameter -gui it will start in ncurses mode. Make sure to have at least a terminal that is 120x35 for the best experience.

In command mode, you can enter the following commands (with the alias indicated between brackets):

• load (<) [path] : load program from file
• save (>) [path] : save the current program to file
• run (r) : execute the machine till it goes to a halt state
• step (s) [nsteps] : execute nsteps computations steps. Default 1.
• memorysize [nbytes] : set the size of the tape to nbytes
• initialsymbol [symbol] : set the initla symbol for the tape
• set_tape [start] [string] : put string on the tape starting from start
• set_state [state] : set the state to state
• move_head [pos] : move the head to pos
• add (+) [from] [read] [to] [write] [dir] : add a new instruction. From from if you read read go to to, write write and move the head to dir. dir is < for left and > for right.
• del (-) [n] : deletes the instruction number `n``
• print_program (pp) : print the program
• print_state (ps) : print the machine state
• print_state_full (psf) : print the state showing the whole tape
• clear (C) : clears the program
• reset (R) : reset the machine
• echo [string] : prints string
• quit (q) : quit
• help (?) : show help message

In GUI mode, you can:

• move tape with left/right arrow keys
• move head with < and >
• scroll program with up/down arrow keys
• run with r
• step with s
• enter command mode :
• reset machine with `R``
• \ change tape symbol