Computers are simple

Computers are simple. They must be. Consider how fast the industry developed and the only conclusion you can draw is that it must be simple. Once you understand how easy it is to implement the basic operations add, move, compare and jump to a machine, and that you can build -any- program from these operations you'll know. Alan Turing started it all.

The smartphones of today are so much more powerful than the mainframes banks had in the sixties and seventies in terms of computing power. Over a billion people on Planet Earth live with a computer. These computers connect us with other people and are turning into our best friends. And that is something what was beyond what Alan Turing foresaw about computers.

Computer Science and Mathematics students need a deep understanding of the Turing Machine. OU M381 did not teach the Turing Machine but a slightly simpler model because the Turing Machine was considered too complex. Not anymore with today's simulators if you ask me.

Turing Machine simulator