I am listening the edX lesson, and the professor stresses that every machine able to perform those six basic primitives can be called Turing Complete. But what are the six basic primitives?
What are the six basic primitives in Turing Complete
turing-completeturing-machines
Related Solutions
Here's the briefest explanation:
A Turing Complete system means a system in which a program can be written that will find an answer (although with no guarantees regarding runtime or memory).
So, if somebody says "my new thing is Turing Complete" that means in principle (although often not in practice) it could be used to solve any computation problem.
Sometimes it's a joke... a guy wrote a Turing Machine simulator in vi, so it's possible to say that vi is the only computational engine ever needed in the world.
I've done a turing machine in C++11. Features that C++11 adds are not significant for the turing machine indeed. It just provides for arbitrary length rule lists using variadic templates, instead of using perverse macro metaprogramming :). The names for the conditions are used to output a diagram on stdout. i've removed that code to keep the sample short.
#include <iostream>
template<bool C, typename A, typename B>
struct Conditional {
typedef A type;
};
template<typename A, typename B>
struct Conditional<false, A, B> {
typedef B type;
};
template<typename...>
struct ParameterPack;
template<bool C, typename = void>
struct EnableIf { };
template<typename Type>
struct EnableIf<true, Type> {
typedef Type type;
};
template<typename T>
struct Identity {
typedef T type;
};
// define a type list
template<typename...>
struct TypeList;
template<typename T, typename... TT>
struct TypeList<T, TT...> {
typedef T type;
typedef TypeList<TT...> tail;
};
template<>
struct TypeList<> {
};
template<typename List>
struct GetSize;
template<typename... Items>
struct GetSize<TypeList<Items...>> {
enum { value = sizeof...(Items) };
};
template<typename... T>
struct ConcatList;
template<typename... First, typename... Second, typename... Tail>
struct ConcatList<TypeList<First...>, TypeList<Second...>, Tail...> {
typedef typename ConcatList<TypeList<First..., Second...>,
Tail...>::type type;
};
template<typename T>
struct ConcatList<T> {
typedef T type;
};
template<typename NewItem, typename List>
struct AppendItem;
template<typename NewItem, typename...Items>
struct AppendItem<NewItem, TypeList<Items...>> {
typedef TypeList<Items..., NewItem> type;
};
template<typename NewItem, typename List>
struct PrependItem;
template<typename NewItem, typename...Items>
struct PrependItem<NewItem, TypeList<Items...>> {
typedef TypeList<NewItem, Items...> type;
};
template<typename List, int N, typename = void>
struct GetItem {
static_assert(N > 0, "index cannot be negative");
static_assert(GetSize<List>::value > 0, "index too high");
typedef typename GetItem<typename List::tail, N-1>::type type;
};
template<typename List>
struct GetItem<List, 0> {
static_assert(GetSize<List>::value > 0, "index too high");
typedef typename List::type type;
};
template<typename List, template<typename, typename...> class Matcher, typename... Keys>
struct FindItem {
static_assert(GetSize<List>::value > 0, "Could not match any item.");
typedef typename List::type current_type;
typedef typename Conditional<Matcher<current_type, Keys...>::value,
Identity<current_type>, // found!
FindItem<typename List::tail, Matcher, Keys...>>
::type::type type;
};
template<typename List, int I, typename NewItem>
struct ReplaceItem {
static_assert(I > 0, "index cannot be negative");
static_assert(GetSize<List>::value > 0, "index too high");
typedef typename PrependItem<typename List::type,
typename ReplaceItem<typename List::tail, I-1,
NewItem>::type>
::type type;
};
template<typename NewItem, typename Type, typename... T>
struct ReplaceItem<TypeList<Type, T...>, 0, NewItem> {
typedef TypeList<NewItem, T...> type;
};
enum Direction {
Left = -1,
Right = 1
};
template<typename OldState, typename Input, typename NewState,
typename Output, Direction Move>
struct Rule {
typedef OldState old_state;
typedef Input input;
typedef NewState new_state;
typedef Output output;
static Direction const direction = Move;
};
template<typename A, typename B>
struct IsSame {
enum { value = false };
};
template<typename A>
struct IsSame<A, A> {
enum { value = true };
};
template<typename Input, typename State, int Position>
struct Configuration {
typedef Input input;
typedef State state;
enum { position = Position };
};
template<int A, int B>
struct Max {
enum { value = A > B ? A : B };
};
template<int n>
struct State {
enum { value = n };
static char const * name;
};
template<int n>
char const* State<n>::name = "unnamed";
struct QAccept {
enum { value = -1 };
static char const* name;
};
struct QReject {
enum { value = -2 };
static char const* name;
};
#define DEF_STATE(ID, NAME) \
typedef State<ID> NAME ; \
NAME :: name = #NAME ;
template<int n>
struct Input {
enum { value = n };
static char const * name;
template<int... I>
struct Generate {
typedef TypeList<Input<I>...> type;
};
};
template<int n>
char const* Input<n>::name = "unnamed";
typedef Input<-1> InputBlank;
#define DEF_INPUT(ID, NAME) \
typedef Input<ID> NAME ; \
NAME :: name = #NAME ;
template<typename Config, typename Transitions, typename = void>
struct Controller {
typedef Config config;
enum { position = config::position };
typedef typename Conditional<
static_cast<int>(GetSize<typename config::input>::value)
<= static_cast<int>(position),
AppendItem<InputBlank, typename config::input>,
Identity<typename config::input>>::type::type input;
typedef typename config::state state;
typedef typename GetItem<input, position>::type cell;
template<typename Item, typename State, typename Cell>
struct Matcher {
typedef typename Item::old_state checking_state;
typedef typename Item::input checking_input;
enum { value = IsSame<State, checking_state>::value &&
IsSame<Cell, checking_input>::value
};
};
typedef typename FindItem<Transitions, Matcher, state, cell>::type rule;
typedef typename ReplaceItem<input, position, typename rule::output>::type new_input;
typedef typename rule::new_state new_state;
typedef Configuration<new_input,
new_state,
Max<position + rule::direction, 0>::value> new_config;
typedef Controller<new_config, Transitions> next_step;
typedef typename next_step::end_config end_config;
typedef typename next_step::end_input end_input;
typedef typename next_step::end_state end_state;
enum { end_position = next_step::position };
};
template<typename Input, typename State, int Position, typename Transitions>
struct Controller<Configuration<Input, State, Position>, Transitions,
typename EnableIf<IsSame<State, QAccept>::value ||
IsSame<State, QReject>::value>::type> {
typedef Configuration<Input, State, Position> config;
enum { position = config::position };
typedef typename Conditional<
static_cast<int>(GetSize<typename config::input>::value)
<= static_cast<int>(position),
AppendItem<InputBlank, typename config::input>,
Identity<typename config::input>>::type::type input;
typedef typename config::state state;
typedef config end_config;
typedef input end_input;
typedef state end_state;
enum { end_position = position };
};
template<typename Input, typename Transitions, typename StartState>
struct TuringMachine {
typedef Input input;
typedef Transitions transitions;
typedef StartState start_state;
typedef Controller<Configuration<Input, StartState, 0>, Transitions> controller;
typedef typename controller::end_config end_config;
typedef typename controller::end_input end_input;
typedef typename controller::end_state end_state;
enum { end_position = controller::end_position };
};
#include <ostream>
template<>
char const* Input<-1>::name = "_";
char const* QAccept::name = "qaccept";
char const* QReject::name = "qreject";
int main() {
DEF_INPUT(1, x);
DEF_INPUT(2, x_mark);
DEF_INPUT(3, split);
DEF_STATE(0, start);
DEF_STATE(1, find_blank);
DEF_STATE(2, go_back);
/* syntax: State, Input, NewState, Output, Move */
typedef TypeList<
Rule<start, x, find_blank, x_mark, Right>,
Rule<find_blank, x, find_blank, x, Right>,
Rule<find_blank, split, find_blank, split, Right>,
Rule<find_blank, InputBlank, go_back, x, Left>,
Rule<go_back, x, go_back, x, Left>,
Rule<go_back, split, go_back, split, Left>,
Rule<go_back, x_mark, start, x, Right>,
Rule<start, split, QAccept, split, Left>> rules;
/* syntax: initial input, rules, start state */
typedef TuringMachine<TypeList<x, x, x, x, split>, rules, start> double_it;
static_assert(IsSame<double_it::end_input,
TypeList<x, x, x, x, split, x, x, x, x>>::value,
"Hmm... This is borky!");
}
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Best Answer
The six basic operations/primitives that gives a language Turing completeness are:
You can learn more at Alan Turing reference web site and/or watch a small video about it.