Tuatara Turing Machine Simulator

Turing machines are abstract symbol-manipulating devices that can simulate the logic of computer algorithms. As such, they’re useful for classroom demonstrations. This neat little application makes creating and executing such devices a snap.

Tuatara Turing Machine Simulator launches a well-designed interface with a variety of buttons and icons–all of which could be daunting to the layman, but should prove easily understandable to experienced mathematicians. This free application performed very well for us during testing. A well-crafted Help file clarified the purpose of buttons and icons and led us through the steps of creating and executing a Turing machine simulation. The use of colors and symbols was well considered by the developer, and we were pleased that we could execute each step of the simulation manually or automatically.

We might recommend using a larger, sans serif font for the simulations in future releases to make them easier to read. But overall, we recommend this tool for classroom use and for intrigued hobbyists.