a hypothetical universal computing machine able to modify its original instructions by reading, erasing, or writing a new symbol on a moving tape of fixed length that acts as its program. The concept was instrumental in the early development of computer systems
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
Tu′ring machine′
(tŏŏr′ing, tyŏŏr′-),USA pronunciation [Math.]
- Mathematicsa hypothetical device with a set of logical rules of computation: the concept is used in mathematical studies of the computability of numbers and in the mathematical theories of automata and computers.
- after Alan M. Turing (1912–54), English mathematician, who described such a machine in 1936
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