The Turing Machine - Every serious computer user should know about this.

Mimicry of human mental abilities did not begin until the advent of electronics and mathematical logic structures. In the mid-20th century, the British mathematician Alan Turing designed a theoretical machine to process equations without human direction. The machine (now known as a Turing machine), in concept resembled an automatic typewriter that used symbols for math and logic instead of letters. Turing intended the device to be used as a "universal machine" that could be programmed to duplicate the function of any other existing machine. Turing's machine was the theoretical precursor to the modern digital computer.



"Automata Theory," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.