The turing machine was the turning point, and beginning of computer science, i think that know there should be a turing machine that learns. Once again enjoyed your video and the hard work it must have taken you. : )
Turing's a hero, for giving up what he did. I thought up a scheme, inspired by your machine, to elaborate and evolve the idea. It's only a conceptualization, but... feed it a Möbius strip, then have the machine run a Quine program. Thinking about it, I ran into the problem of entropy (Asimov's Last Question). Myself and the gallerist of Gaia thought of many, many good sources for more randomness (signal to noise - I'll race ya!). That brings back to mind the Cryptonomicon, from Neal Stephenson.
In all seriousness though, can I buy one of these from you? I'm not very rich, so it'd be nice if you could make it smaller or something, but still, this is awesome!
Actually i used to study the TMs, PDAs, DFAs, NFAs in my Books... But when i saw your implementation i was impressed! I know our cell phones and PCs are much sophisticated but it was like watching Universe growing out of Big Bang! Good Job.
wow, nicely done! i'm wondering if you've considered a modification beyond binary, to something that could represent more significant results about representability and decidability. on the other hand, the minimal nature of this thing is part of it's beauty, it's a shame you can't show it to alan turing. but i was thinking, given the sensitivity of the camera reader that you described, it could certainly distinguish between things much more complicated than 0's and 1's.
I did a lesson on Turing machine today; have to admit, Turing was way ahead of his league at the time! It made understanding the concept of Finite States better XD
Thank you for the upload, it makes understanding the theory much more interesting.
My friend proposed me made a work (just a written theorical report for university as a final work for the subject). I think I dealed enough with Turing machine already in other subject.
I'll go for AI on videogames. At least is something more motivating for me.
Anyway this video makes Turing Machines to be interesting :P
This was very nicely done. Although maybe a bit complex using servos and extended logic controllers to accomplish the turing machine project you made, the demonstration was still very nicely done this way and used those extra enhancements of today's technology to make it more accurate, and likewise more exciting to watch. Thanks for this! I enjoyed it.
For the layman, this looks like a machine that writes and erases stuff on tape. But what this machine really represents is the idea of somebody who lived long before iphones, the internet, computers, or even transistors, trying to imagine a machine that could modify itself, and do more than what machines had done for centuries--ONE JOB. Turing was trying to imagine *how to describe a machine, SPECIFICALLY* that could do more than be a simple wheel or lever. He succeeded.
A day later, in retrospect, please allow me to correct myself. It wasn't a waste of time, as it undoubtedly gave you pleasure to build it. It is an inspiring piece of art, and as such, it provides pleasure to look at. It is also an extremely good educational device. Once again, congratulations.
And forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but your TM is akin to using a human to drive a treadmill. I.e., an entity, which is orders of magnitude more sophisticated and capable, manifesting itself in a system capable only to perform primitive tasks. To eliminate this antagonism, a mechanical TM should be purely mechanical: no lights, optical sensors, electronic circuits, electric motors, etc. Could be driven by a crank operated by a ... human :) But your TM is truly beautiful, hats off.
Congratulations, it's fantastic! Shows you are a master of many disciplines, and you have my admiration. So please don't take it to heart if I also say this: building it was a gargantuan waste of time. But I understand. Some people waste their time by building toy steam locomotives. In fact, I share your fascination with the TM. Some years ago I've written a TM simulator and spent countless hours to write actual programs ("tapes") for it to do stupid things. That was my idea of wasting time.
it's really awesome that you put this together. It illustrates the concept of the turing machine as it was thought out originally with perfection.
It's a great job you've done here. It really helps in connecting the theoretical proofs revolving around the abstract turing machine to modern day electronic computers; it's also a very nice visualisation, and will hopefully help people remember the concepts better.
As soon as TM is a conception only, it you have to use some practical microcontrollers and/or computers for servos, scanner etc. Thus the electronic base is much more complex than the TM itself.
But a properly instructed man (monkey?) may do the same with a hand driven TM and solve any computation problem with enough time provided.
this is an absurd thing to make , what's the rate of computation on this? Its got to be absurdly low,
isn't the whole point of the turing machine that its a hypothetical method of simple information manipulation that could be used to solve very vast types of problems
you wouldn't actually want to do it at this level of machine, its useless
Sir, I am a follower of the cult that believes our universe is being simulated by a TM, which itself is being simulated by one, ad infinitum. Stop depicting my God and respect my cultural sensitivity! Thank you.
@Olaftr Well... you'd probably have to write an emulator for something like a normal computer before you could run Linux... but Linux is pretty much designed not to halt when it is not given any input, and TMs don't have any way to get input once they start, so... it's not really compatible with the way a Turing Machine is meant to operate...
i really appreciate your work in explaining this in a very accessible way, and all the amazing (to me at any rate) mechanical feats required to make this extremely presentable and nice to look at! it's an awesome idea to use today's intricate computer technology to both demystify computers but also demonstrate their wonderful progress & power via showcasing its incredibly humble roots(at least that's what i am guessing your intent is) anyway, nice work :)
You clearly don't understand what a Turing machine does, its not just a fancy printer. Any person with a basic knowledge of Computer Science theory understands what is actually happening. Cool Build, Great Video!
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Making the Turing machine controlled by microprocessor is like building prototype of steam engine having among other parts electric motor and battery.
You will never convince people that the tape operations are the actual computing. The camera there is to distract attention. All calculations are made in the chip. The «turing machine» is just fancy-looking printer.
It's really a very simple matter to prove in person that the calculations are being done on the tape. I can while the machine is running alter and character that the other person wants. The machine will with calculate based on the altered tape. By doing it after the machine starts and by having the other person pick what is altered it take the machines' processor and me out of the loop. At that point if someone doesn't believe it, I don't really care. The software is also on my Web site.
@therealmdavey: This is totally awesome, and it's something I have always wanted to build. I had no sound when watching this, but if there is a "sophisticated" microprocessor inside, the only way this could be any more wonderful is if you could show that no proper subset of yr machine is computationally equivalent to a Turing Machine, although I'm not sure how correctly to define that notion in a meaningful way.
@therealmdavey I understand both positions, but i think it's more like having a vapor engine which is made to work by vaporizing the water via electric current. It's just a proof of concept, it can be done, but it would amount just to prove you can generate motion from such a piston, it's really nice to see it working though. Cheers.
Remember that part in the textbook about the overhead for computational universality? The computations necessary to control the motors and servos are a real example of this overhead.
Who knows what else Alan Turing might have invented? What a pity that he was destroyed by bigotry and hatred from heterosexuals who weren't able to see gay men as fully human.
@MrRedFredSaid He wasn't an inventor, he was a mathematition and the father of Computer Science, his contributions to the war effort were VERY significant (craking German encryption)
google it. In short, it is the absolute minimal but complete computer. Meaning it can do all calculations and run all algorithms that exist. All current computers and languages are "kind of" measured against this thing to see if they are "turing complete". This is the little model steam engine of computer science.
@krxlprnft 'course a register machine can compute several things asymptotically faster than a TM can (I've forgotton the example from my complexity theory class dangit)
@11ThatsWhatSheSaid11 Well a Turing Machine is an abstract idea of a 'computing machine' that is used by mathematitions and computer scientists to prove what can and cannot be computed (we know that if there is no way for a Turing Machine to compute something then a normal computer cannot do it either, same thing for stuff that CAN be done TM can implies your laptop can too) and also how long it takes to compute things.
As an actuall computer it has no practical purpose.
JolyG, you are right, actually Turing Machine is a model for a finite state machine, it show us the principles for scanner and parser operations, these are foundations to design compilers and modern programming languages. Turing Machine is a general purpose machine, is a logical model
and you're mixing the practical applications of the theory with the model (most parsers are based on pushdown automata, lexers are usually FSMs though)
a TM is a model of computation as are FSM and pushdown automata and we have that FSM < PDA < TM
Von Neumann architecture refers to how the components (processor, memory, IO) of a computer are organized, a Turing machine deals with how a limited set of instructions can perform any computable task. The two are in no way exclusive or even much related. It's like saying most cars today use wheels so they can't be made up of lots of little parts.
@therealmdavey Of course what you say is true at a high level. However, Turring was trying to make real computers that modeled the interactions of his machines while Von Neumann was building computers with more realistic architectures. It's because of his fixation on the model that Britan fell behind in the technology race. Also wonderful project! Great work!
@therealmdavey Of course what you say is true at a high level. However, Turing was trying to make real computers that modeled the interactions of his machines while Von Neumann was building computers with more realistic architectures. It's because of his fixation on the model that Britan fell behind in the technology race. Also wonderful project! Great work!
@therealmdavey Of course what you say is true at a high level. However, Turing was trying to make real computers that modeled the interactions of his machines while Von Neumann was building computers with more realistic architectures. It's because of his fixation on the model that Britan fell behind in the technology race. Also wonderful project! Great work!
@JolyG, a Turing Machine abstracts from any physical conditions, like memory and computational speed. it simply concentrates on what IS computable, and what is not (and some other things, too).
@JolyG for example, if you can simulate a turing machine in a (programming) language or any given formal language, it is said to be "turing complete". with that knowledge, you can assure, that this language is able to compute every algorithm, that a "universal computer" can compute. for example, functional languages are turing complete, and thus are as powerful as imperative languages (in terms of computation).
P and NP refers to the complexity of given problems.
@JolyG P=NP is exactly the sort of question you talk about in the context of a TM yes. (also P/NP already means finite time)
Computable means that for some problem, the answer is computable if and only if there's a Turning Machine that can solve it.
ARG this stuff is really hard to explain in 500 characters because to give a good explanation I'd need to define what a 'Language' is in the context of computability theory... and then I'd run out of space
Let's say you have a function F, F is computable if and only if there is a Turing Machine that takes as input (the inital values on the tape when the TM starts) strings in the range of F and produces the corresponding output (value on the tape when it halts) and the machine must halt for every value in the range of F.
P and NP are about how many steps it takes for a TM to compute something, both are about things that ARE computeable.
@dannicron well we talk about the speed in terms of asymptotic bounds... but yea (and the bounds are not always the same as the ones for a real computer, but the're within a polynomial factor)
@JolyG A Turing machine was NEVER a computer that you would actually build and use, it was just a way of thinking about computers, it is meant to be very simple so you can proove things about it more easily. We know that it CAN compute anything that an actual computer can, but not as quickly.
It's not, nor was it intended to be a practical computer, it's a reasoning tool.
I do believe there is some market for a Turing machine in schools and universities. If someone want's to run with my ideas and make a product, go for it. I get my thrill out of building something the first time.
Seeing a real-life version of a Turing machine running is pretty amazing and so much different than reading about it as just a 'thought experiment' in CS books.
Wow! A wonderfully clear visualization of Turing's concept, and the machine itself is beautiful.
zacernst 2 weeks ago
I am sure some museum or convener would like to have this impressive implementation as a showcase.
ebaklund 1 month ago
Turing machine: now with SD reader!
faaabio4011 1 month ago 2
how much would it cost to build that beauty?
danielvalenzuela7 1 month ago
@danielvalenzuela7 I think I spent about $300 on it, but I had a lot of motors and other parts on hand.
therealmdavey 1 month ago
So it takes a computer 50 steps to count from 11 to 16?
777Skeptic 1 month ago
@777Skeptic Well, given that a computer can do billions of steps per second, it's not really a lot.
PoliticalHell 1 month ago
@777Skeptic this is the basics of computing shown right in front of you.
mignik01 3 weeks ago
I don't think it's possible to have made this any more boring. But great information.
FlargidyTV 3 months ago
Very good job
BigUglyNakedGuy 3 months ago
Computing in its purest form.
05Rudey 3 months ago
Very good job.
The turing machine was the turning point, and beginning of computer science, i think that know there should be a turing machine that learns. Once again enjoyed your video and the hard work it must have taken you. : )
sergio1020881 3 months ago in playlist Computer History
Turing's a hero, for giving up what he did. I thought up a scheme, inspired by your machine, to elaborate and evolve the idea. It's only a conceptualization, but... feed it a Möbius strip, then have the machine run a Quine program. Thinking about it, I ran into the problem of entropy (Asimov's Last Question). Myself and the gallerist of Gaia thought of many, many good sources for more randomness (signal to noise - I'll race ya!). That brings back to mind the Cryptonomicon, from Neal Stephenson.
vjdep 3 months ago
does it run crysis?
mazaltow 5 months ago 6
@mazaltow thoretically seen... it could. Howeber, It would probably take over 9000 years
herbivore007 4 months ago
@mazaltow Given enough time, it sure does!
Minolo3DS 3 months ago
Cool! Also check out the Alan Turing clip in the My Favourite Scientist series.
Turomancer 5 months ago
Very nice! That would be a perfect centerpiece for a geek like me. Very well made.
deadbutler 6 months ago
In all seriousness though, can I buy one of these from you? I'm not very rich, so it'd be nice if you could make it smaller or something, but still, this is awesome!
megakid39 6 months ago
But can it run Minecraft?
megakid39 6 months ago
@megakid39 Yes. Very slowly.
Scrat9518 5 months ago
@Scrat9518 :D
megakid39 5 months ago
Actually i used to study the TMs, PDAs, DFAs, NFAs in my Books... But when i saw your implementation i was impressed! I know our cell phones and PCs are much sophisticated but it was like watching Universe growing out of Big Bang! Good Job.
Do you have videos for PDAs too!??
Photon98 7 months ago
WOwwwww.....
I FALLED IN LOVE WITH YOUR MACHINE!!!!
Photon98 7 months ago
Wow is that a Maxon motor running the eraser roller? One of the best motors available!!
hoarp001 8 months ago
I think it's brilliant that it literally prints 1's and 0's
LoSc00 9 months ago
It's not a turing machine it's an linear bounded automaton
mazaltow 9 months ago
@mazaltow a linear bounded automaton IS a form of turing machine
skapista92 9 months ago
18 people have ironicly disliced this video.
orka16605 9 months ago
But what happens if the ink goes out?? ;))
DanielLaszloKovacs 9 months ago
wow, nicely done! i'm wondering if you've considered a modification beyond binary, to something that could represent more significant results about representability and decidability. on the other hand, the minimal nature of this thing is part of it's beauty, it's a shame you can't show it to alan turing. but i was thinking, given the sensitivity of the camera reader that you described, it could certainly distinguish between things much more complicated than 0's and 1's.
yn30s 9 months ago
I did a lesson on Turing machine today; have to admit, Turing was way ahead of his league at the time! It made understanding the concept of Finite States better XD
Thank you for the upload, it makes understanding the theory much more interesting.
MechPirate 9 months ago
Its so beautiful, its making me cry. :D
Shaunakde 9 months ago
Cool project!!
thanks for sharing.
servicehack 10 months ago
Hm ^_^
My friend proposed me made a work (just a written theorical report for university as a final work for the subject). I think I dealed enough with Turing machine already in other subject.
I'll go for AI on videogames. At least is something more motivating for me.
Anyway this video makes Turing Machines to be interesting :P
fragsman 10 months ago
Well done Sir! An extremely impressive and informative representation of a Turing Machine.
derrick10101 10 months ago
Did you know...
Turing was killed by cyanide given by the British government just because he was gay.
mangopearandapples 11 months ago 2
just perfect
freakyy01 11 months ago
It is an amazing mathematical model.
It is practical for imagining a computer and perfectly describes its principles.
Without its model to work off, we may not be here, sitting and watching youtube.
But the real question is - will it blend?
abcq13 11 months ago 8
That's not a Turing machine. That's a linear bounded automaton. The tape is finite.. Turing machines in practice do not exist.
palindrome06 1 year ago
@palindrome06 I know that u know that this machine is a representation
x5132 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
We hit it off so well after another visit busizz4me.info
yamunaperara 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
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sasinihsani 1 year ago
This was very nicely done. Although maybe a bit complex using servos and extended logic controllers to accomplish the turing machine project you made, the demonstration was still very nicely done this way and used those extra enhancements of today's technology to make it more accurate, and likewise more exciting to watch. Thanks for this! I enjoyed it.
jameswasil 1 year ago
at that rate, i can download my new mp3 in only..... 1 week! yay! :)
YOanimator 1 year ago
I need to have this next to my 12 Core 48GBRAM machine
unsound64 1 year ago
I want one :)
waveshaper 1 year ago
Volume is fucking low; can barely hear it even at full blast
TAz69x 1 year ago
Awesome video!
zachlr1 1 year ago
I came no less than three times.
Whoever did this is an artist and a genius at the same time.
K17U 1 year ago
That is truly a thing of beauty! Thanks for sharing it.
kaapiovuohi 1 year ago 39
For the layman, this looks like a machine that writes and erases stuff on tape. But what this machine really represents is the idea of somebody who lived long before iphones, the internet, computers, or even transistors, trying to imagine a machine that could modify itself, and do more than what machines had done for centuries--ONE JOB. Turing was trying to imagine *how to describe a machine, SPECIFICALLY* that could do more than be a simple wheel or lever. He succeeded.
TsujiBan 1 year ago 73
@TsujiBan: Good explanation!
Phonolith303 1 year ago
A day later, in retrospect, please allow me to correct myself. It wasn't a waste of time, as it undoubtedly gave you pleasure to build it. It is an inspiring piece of art, and as such, it provides pleasure to look at. It is also an extremely good educational device. Once again, congratulations.
Taengren 1 year ago 2
And forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but your TM is akin to using a human to drive a treadmill. I.e., an entity, which is orders of magnitude more sophisticated and capable, manifesting itself in a system capable only to perform primitive tasks. To eliminate this antagonism, a mechanical TM should be purely mechanical: no lights, optical sensors, electronic circuits, electric motors, etc. Could be driven by a crank operated by a ... human :) But your TM is truly beautiful, hats off.
Taengren 1 year ago
Congratulations, it's fantastic! Shows you are a master of many disciplines, and you have my admiration. So please don't take it to heart if I also say this: building it was a gargantuan waste of time. But I understand. Some people waste their time by building toy steam locomotives. In fact, I share your fascination with the TM. Some years ago I've written a TM simulator and spent countless hours to write actual programs ("tapes") for it to do stupid things. That was my idea of wasting time.
Taengren 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
thumbs up if you have no idea what's going on in this video
jpatton1989 1 year ago
Very well done.
rocke4444 1 year ago
Absolutely gorgeous!
devtty7 1 year ago
very, very nicely done. great job.
serpent49374 1 year ago
great job!
RobesCraven 1 year ago
I think I just had a nerdgasm. o.o
TheAgamemnon911 1 year ago 3
Nice machine, great work.
asolutionforyou 1 year ago
it's really awesome that you put this together. It illustrates the concept of the turing machine as it was thought out originally with perfection.
It's a great job you've done here. It really helps in connecting the theoretical proofs revolving around the abstract turing machine to modern day electronic computers; it's also a very nice visualisation, and will hopefully help people remember the concepts better.
Aemsere 1 year ago 2
you have too much time on your hands my friend
marsh8472 1 year ago
@marsh8472 sure.. working at mc donnalds 8 hours a day would be time better spent...
drawmaster77 1 year ago
lets see you solve the halting problem
wisestfoolalive 1 year ago 3
P=NP
bumfluff1917 1 year ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
proof it.
deneaux 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
proof it
deneaux 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
proof it
deneaux 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
proof it
deneaux 1 year ago
i dont understand what a turing machine is...
BurnoutParidiseFan 1 year ago
Very well designed TM.
As soon as TM is a conception only, it you have to use some practical microcontrollers and/or computers for servos, scanner etc. Thus the electronic base is much more complex than the TM itself.
But a properly instructed man (monkey?) may do the same with a hand driven TM and solve any computation problem with enough time provided.
Clopodav 1 year ago
Wow nicely done mate!
Was this built for a funded project or was is it a personal hobby of yours?
Very impressed!
Hathspider 1 year ago
this is an absurd thing to make , what's the rate of computation on this? Its got to be absurdly low,
isn't the whole point of the turing machine that its a hypothetical method of simple information manipulation that could be used to solve very vast types of problems
you wouldn't actually want to do it at this level of machine, its useless
sterlingcrispin 1 year ago
@sterlingcrispin it takes 50 steps to count from 11 to 16, I love it . This is an impressive project none the less, great craftsmanship
sterlingcrispin 1 year ago
What’s the purpose of Turing Machine
monkeybeo 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
No offense, but why would you build this, other than to prove to the world how big of a nerd you are?
sards2us 1 year ago
Sir, I am a follower of the cult that believes our universe is being simulated by a TM, which itself is being simulated by one, ad infinitum. Stop depicting my God and respect my cultural sensitivity! Thank you.
crtx2 1 year ago
@crtx2 It's TM's all the way down?
spudd86 1 year ago
@spudd86 Exactly! Not tortoises but TM's! :D
crtx2 1 year ago
@crtx2 I think a fatwa is in order here.
TroyOi 1 year ago
THANKS A LOT for sharing!!!!!!!!!grazieee
domyaska 1 year ago
Hi! I need a transcription of this video, has anyone the subtitles?? Thank you!
B34S 1 year ago
Very impressive!
linesinthesand 1 year ago
Comment removed
nawkwan 1 year ago
The most important question:
Can you port Linux to it? :-)
Awesome job!
Tom G
Olaftr 1 year ago
@Olaftr Well... you'd probably have to write an emulator for something like a normal computer before you could run Linux... but Linux is pretty much designed not to halt when it is not given any input, and TMs don't have any way to get input once they start, so... it's not really compatible with the way a Turing Machine is meant to operate...
spudd86 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
worthless...you couldn't have built something useful? enjoy what!?!?!((( superfail))
derekstech 1 year ago
Incredible work! I could watch your little machine spit out numbers all day... truly inspiring project. Fantastic.
grimcity 1 year ago
Seriously, if the introductory computational theory class in my school had this machine, the class would have been much more interesting.
jimreynold2nd 1 year ago
Impressive machine.
Gymmarn 1 year ago
i really appreciate your work in explaining this in a very accessible way, and all the amazing (to me at any rate) mechanical feats required to make this extremely presentable and nice to look at! it's an awesome idea to use today's intricate computer technology to both demystify computers but also demonstrate their wonderful progress & power via showcasing its incredibly humble roots(at least that's what i am guessing your intent is) anyway, nice work :)
fractaldog 1 year ago
omg wow this is so cool!
troglodyto 1 year ago
can i play games on this?
:-P
dannicron 1 year ago
@dannicron theoretically, if you had a long enough tape and a LONG time, you could play Legend of Zelda.
ColorPrinter42 1 year ago
@ColorPrinter42 Not really... TM's don't have any input other than the tape so they don't really do 'interactive'
spudd86 1 year ago
this means: a machine that doesnt do anything.
wilcobr 1 year ago
will you do my turing machine homework? haha
sigh2infinity 1 year ago
I'm assuming the special symbol for blank is nothing being written, but there appears to be a lack of left endmarker on this machine.
Certainly a shiny way to demonstrate this computation technique however
gingerlink 1 year ago
@gingerlink the microcontroller keeps track of the position so it doesn't need the Left marker (the TM is not privy to this information... but yeah)
spudd86 1 year ago
really awesome. I would definitely buy one if it's in market
yingzzzzzz 1 year ago
I have an idea: Turing machine should be controlled by another Turing machine instead of microprocessor.
Sukhinov 1 year ago 2
Where can I buy one ?
Hemulen40 1 year ago
best rube gold burg operation ever!
nullproperty 1 year ago
imressive
noahganter 1 year ago
This seems archaic.
Juefawn 1 year ago
You clearly don't understand what a Turing machine does, its not just a fancy printer. Any person with a basic knowledge of Computer Science theory understands what is actually happening. Cool Build, Great Video!
garciaen806 1 year ago
Amazing!
Intosia 1 year ago
brilliant
thefredFreddy 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Making the Turing machine controlled by microprocessor is like building prototype of steam engine having among other parts electric motor and battery.
You will never convince people that the tape operations are the actual computing. The camera there is to distract attention. All calculations are made in the chip. The «turing machine» is just fancy-looking printer.
Sukhinov 1 year ago
It's really a very simple matter to prove in person that the calculations are being done on the tape. I can while the machine is running alter and character that the other person wants. The machine will with calculate based on the altered tape. By doing it after the machine starts and by having the other person pick what is altered it take the machines' processor and me out of the loop. At that point if someone doesn't believe it, I don't really care. The software is also on my Web site.
therealmdavey 1 year ago 39
@therealmdavey OK. If it can recognize digits not written by itself, then most probably there is no cheating there.
Sukhinov 1 year ago
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JEIhrig 1 year ago
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JEIhrig 1 year ago
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JEIhrig 1 year ago
@therealmdavey: This is totally awesome, and it's something I have always wanted to build. I had no sound when watching this, but if there is a "sophisticated" microprocessor inside, the only way this could be any more wonderful is if you could show that no proper subset of yr machine is computationally equivalent to a Turing Machine, although I'm not sure how correctly to define that notion in a meaningful way.
libcrypt 1 year ago
@therealmdavey I understand both positions, but i think it's more like having a vapor engine which is made to work by vaporizing the water via electric current. It's just a proof of concept, it can be done, but it would amount just to prove you can generate motion from such a piston, it's really nice to see it working though. Cheers.
luisdanielmesa 1 year ago
Remember that part in the textbook about the overhead for computational universality? The computations necessary to control the motors and servos are a real example of this overhead.
isoChampion 1 year ago
Comment removed
JEIhrig 1 year ago
@Sukhinov Well, using a Parallax MCU to simulate a TM only proves that the MCU is indeed another TM.
jimreynold2nd 1 year ago
@Sukhinov It's more like building an internal combustion horse.
mentalwimp 1 year ago
Very nice
brosbdm 1 year ago
Friggin awesome!
krxlprnft 1 year ago
heh, just had a lecture on turning machines today, was nice to see one in a physical form
banjtheman 1 year ago
Who knows what else Alan Turing might have invented? What a pity that he was destroyed by bigotry and hatred from heterosexuals who weren't able to see gay men as fully human.
MrRedFredSaid 1 year ago 40
@MrRedFredSaid He wasn't an inventor, he was a mathematition and the father of Computer Science, his contributions to the war effort were VERY significant (craking German encryption)
spudd86 1 year ago
excellent project, great execution and neat presentation.
noissez 1 year ago
why would anyone spend time making this
kruset11 1 year ago
i dont get the point of this machine at all or what its purpose is
11ThatsWhatSheSaid11 1 year ago
lrn 2 history
sealclubbinfool 1 year ago
google it. In short, it is the absolute minimal but complete computer. Meaning it can do all calculations and run all algorithms that exist. All current computers and languages are "kind of" measured against this thing to see if they are "turing complete". This is the little model steam engine of computer science.
krxlprnft 1 year ago
@krxlprnft 'course a register machine can compute several things asymptotically faster than a TM can (I've forgotton the example from my complexity theory class dangit)
spudd86 1 year ago
@11ThatsWhatSheSaid11 Well a Turing Machine is an abstract idea of a 'computing machine' that is used by mathematitions and computer scientists to prove what can and cannot be computed (we know that if there is no way for a Turing Machine to compute something then a normal computer cannot do it either, same thing for stuff that CAN be done TM can implies your laptop can too) and also how long it takes to compute things.
As an actuall computer it has no practical purpose.
spudd86 1 year ago
this is really awesome :)
rottenspectre 1 year ago
watch?v=0zwWDFrAjNk
Search111add 1 year ago
JolyG, you are right, actually Turing Machine is a model for a finite state machine, it show us the principles for scanner and parser operations, these are foundations to design compilers and modern programming languages. Turing Machine is a general purpose machine, is a logical model
lestherpalacios 1 year ago
@lestherpalacios no an FSM is not as powerful as a TM.
and you're mixing the practical applications of the theory with the model (most parsers are based on pushdown automata, lexers are usually FSMs though)
a TM is a model of computation as are FSM and pushdown automata and we have that FSM < PDA < TM
spudd86 1 year ago
pretty neat design. well done.
rhinh25 1 year ago
Not only an amazing build but a gorgeous video. Thank you.
IvoryRose123 1 year ago
WOW Nice job
SuperNikolov 1 year ago
So astonishing !
sasho54 1 year ago
My understanding is that all computers in use today are based on the Von Neumann architecture, not Turing's design.
JolyG 1 year ago
Von Neumann architecture refers to how the components (processor, memory, IO) of a computer are organized, a Turing machine deals with how a limited set of instructions can perform any computable task. The two are in no way exclusive or even much related. It's like saying most cars today use wheels so they can't be made up of lots of little parts.
therealmdavey 1 year ago 9
@therealmdavey Of course what you say is true at a high level. However, Turring was trying to make real computers that modeled the interactions of his machines while Von Neumann was building computers with more realistic architectures. It's because of his fixation on the model that Britan fell behind in the technology race. Also wonderful project! Great work!
jblfireball 1 year ago
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@therealmdavey Of course what you say is true at a high level. However, Turing was trying to make real computers that modeled the interactions of his machines while Von Neumann was building computers with more realistic architectures. It's because of his fixation on the model that Britan fell behind in the technology race. Also wonderful project! Great work!
jblfireball 1 year ago
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@therealmdavey Of course what you say is true at a high level. However, Turing was trying to make real computers that modeled the interactions of his machines while Von Neumann was building computers with more realistic architectures. It's because of his fixation on the model that Britan fell behind in the technology race. Also wonderful project! Great work!
jblfireball 1 year ago
@therealmdavey: Turing Machine is a design and interface, and von Neumann Architecture is its "implementation".
Saskachewan 1 year ago
@JolyG, a Turing Machine abstracts from any physical conditions, like memory and computational speed. it simply concentrates on what IS computable, and what is not (and some other things, too).
dannicron 1 year ago
@dannicron What is computable? Like P = NP (in finite time)?
JolyG 1 year ago
@JolyG for example, if you can simulate a turing machine in a (programming) language or any given formal language, it is said to be "turing complete". with that knowledge, you can assure, that this language is able to compute every algorithm, that a "universal computer" can compute. for example, functional languages are turing complete, and thus are as powerful as imperative languages (in terms of computation).
P and NP refers to the complexity of given problems.
dannicron 1 year ago
@JolyG P=NP is exactly the sort of question you talk about in the context of a TM yes. (also P/NP already means finite time)
Computable means that for some problem, the answer is computable if and only if there's a Turning Machine that can solve it.
ARG this stuff is really hard to explain in 500 characters because to give a good explanation I'd need to define what a 'Language' is in the context of computability theory... and then I'd run out of space
spudd86 1 year ago
@spudd86: Hahah, seems like the limitations of the Turing Machine's tape to me ;)
Saskachewan 1 year ago
@JolyG Ah I have a better explanation
Let's say you have a function F, F is computable if and only if there is a Turing Machine that takes as input (the inital values on the tape when the TM starts) strings in the range of F and produces the corresponding output (value on the tape when it halts) and the machine must halt for every value in the range of F.
P and NP are about how many steps it takes for a TM to compute something, both are about things that ARE computeable.
spudd86 1 year ago
@spudd86
Bet ya learend that in CSC363 hah
nawkwan 1 year ago
@nawkwan Yup
spudd86 1 year ago
@dannicron well we talk about the speed in terms of asymptotic bounds... but yea (and the bounds are not always the same as the ones for a real computer, but the're within a polynomial factor)
spudd86 1 year ago
@JolyG A Turing machine was NEVER a computer that you would actually build and use, it was just a way of thinking about computers, it is meant to be very simple so you can proove things about it more easily. We know that it CAN compute anything that an actual computer can, but not as quickly.
It's not, nor was it intended to be a practical computer, it's a reasoning tool.
This is just a geeky-awesome toy.
spudd86 1 year ago
This is so awesome. :)
MarijnStevens 1 year ago
Best project wich i saw on youtube!!
Amazing!
Djony1987 1 year ago
Amazing! You actually did it! Hahahaha!
On a serious note, do you think there's any market for it? Like schools, Universities, etc.
sgsawant 1 year ago
I do believe there is some market for a Turing machine in schools and universities. If someone want's to run with my ideas and make a product, go for it. I get my thrill out of building something the first time.
therealmdavey 1 year ago 4
ttly osm!
bozozclown 1 year ago
awsome!
snotboxxx 1 year ago
beautiful!
Lck84 1 year ago
Supercool.
anothernewname1 1 year ago
WOW!! I just started to study automats and Turing machines It's amazing!!
pisbull 1 year ago
Very very nice job! :-)
e13373 1 year ago
man, this is awesome, but what is it for exactly?!
TheJoshJman 1 year ago
WOW!!!
Seeing a real-life version of a Turing machine running is pretty amazing and so much different than reading about it as just a 'thought experiment' in CS books.
Sensorlytics 1 year ago
congratulations for this initiative!
alan turing would be proud, you've made a beautiful and elegant machine.
keep up!
mateusaubin04 1 year ago