README.md

Turing Machine Runner

A program that runs Turing Machines as defined in chapter 12 of the Open Logic Textbook.

Example Machines

Several example machines are provided. Including the even machine, the doubler machine, and the adder machine as mentioned in the textbook.

Creating Your Own Machine

To create your own machine, create a text file with the fields tape, transition and start.

You can tell the script which file to read from by changing this line

file, err := os.Open("doubler.in") // <-- change this file to run a different machine

Defining an Initial State

You can define the initial state of your machine as by including the line.

start q0

Defining the Tape

To run your machine, you need a tape. For example, If you want 1000101 to be the initial contents of your tape, you can do so by including in your text file the line

tape 1000101

Defining Transitions

As described in the Open Logic Textbook, different transitions exist for the machine based on the state of the machine and the reading of the tape head.

An example is which describes the behavior of the machine in state and when the tape head reads 1.

We describe this function in the input file by listing the terms in the inputs and outputs of the function from left to right.

transition q0 1 q1 1 R

Note: You can only describe the direction of the tape head in terms of R, L, and N in the input file.

As it turns out, this function describes the arrow that points from to in the following diagram, which illustrates the even machine.