Turing is a Turing Machine simulator. It models as nearly as possible the original machine described in Turing's 1936 paper.
Create a Turing Machine with a number of configurations and then step through its execution.
For example, Turing's first machine (in its condensed form):
machine = Turing::Machine.new
machine.configuration_list.add :b, nil, [[:write, 0], [:right], [:write, 1], [:right]], :b
10.times { machine.step }
machine.head.tape.to_binary_s # =>"01010101010101010101"
This machine prints the sequence "0101..." onto the tape on successive squares. Note that Turing uses :b as the starting state... just as Turing did. Well, he used a gothic letter 'b', but close enough.
Read an ASCII Turing configuration language (TCL?) that specifies the configurations of a Turing machine as closely to their specification in the original paper as possible. For instance, the example machine above would be represented as:
b, None, P0RP1R, b
That is, a machine with one configration, called b. When in state b on an empty square (None), the machine will print 0 (P0), move right (R), print 1 (P1), move right (R) and end in state b.
Rein Henrichs: reinh@reinh.com