What Is Turing Completeness?

February 28, 2023

Introduction

Turing completeness is a concept in computer science that refers to the ability of a system of instructions to simulate any other system of instructions. It is named after Alan Turing, the British mathematician and computer scientist who first proposed the concept in 1936. In essence, a system is said to be Turing complete if it can solve any problem that can be solved by any other system. This means that if a programming language is Turing complete, it can theoretically solve any problem that can be solved by any other programming language.

In order to understand what makes a programming language Turing complete, it's important to understand what makes a programming language in general. A programming language is essentially a set of instructions that tell a computer how to perform certain tasks. These instructions are written in code and are then compiled into machine code which the computer can understand and execute.

What Programming Languages are Turing Complete?

There are many different programming languages out there, but not all of them are Turing complete. Some languages are designed for specific tasks and may not have the capability to solve all problems. However, there are some languages which have been proven to be Turing complete and these include C++, Java, Python, JavaScript, Ruby and Go.

C++ is one of the oldest and most widely used programming languages in existence today. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1979 and has since become one of the most popular languages for developing software applications. C++ is an object-oriented language which means it allows developers to create objects with specific properties and methods which can then be used throughout their codebase. It also supports generic programming which allows developers to write code that works with multiple types of data without having to rewrite it for each type separately.

Java is another popular object-oriented language which was developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems in 1995. Java has become one of the most widely used languages for developing web applications due to its platform independence - meaning it can run on any operating system without needing to be recompiled for each platform separately - as well as its robust security features which make it ideal for enterprise applications. Java also supports generic programming like C++ does but also includes features such as garbage collection which helps manage memory usage more efficiently than manual memory management would allow for in C++ programs.

Python is an interpreted scripting language developed by Guido van Rossum in 1991 which has become increasingly popular over recent years due its ease of use and readability compared with other languages such as Java or C++. Python supports both procedural and object-oriented programming paradigms making it suitable for both small scripts as well as large scale applications such as web frameworks or scientific computing libraries like NumPy or SciPy. Python also includes features such as dynamic typing which allows developers to quickly prototype their ideas without having to worry about declaring types upfront like they would have to do with statically typed languages like Java or C++.

JavaScript was originally created by Brendan Eich at Netscape Communications Corporation in 1995 as a scripting language for web pages but has since evolved into one of the most widely used languages on the web today due its support across all major browsers as well as its ability to interact with HTML documents directly through DOM manipulation APIs (Document Object Model). JavaScript supports both procedural and object-oriented paradigms making it suitable for both small scripts as well as large scale applications such as single page web apps or NodeJS servers running on top of ExpressJS frameworks etc..

Ruby was created by Yukihiro Matsumoto in 1995 with an emphasis on simplicity and productivity making it ideal for rapid development projects such as web apps or mobile apps where time constraints may be tight but quality needs remain high due its support for metaprogramming techniques such as monkey patching etc.. Ruby also includes features such dynamic typing like Python does but also adds support for functional paradigms through libraries like Enumerable allowing developers more flexibility when writing their codebase compared with statically typed languages like Java or C++ where everything needs declared upfront before use etc..

Finally Go (or Golang) was created by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike & Ken Thompson at Google Inc in 2009 specifically designed with concurrency & scalability in mind making it ideal for distributed systems where performance & reliability need remain high even under heavy load conditions due its support goroutines & channels allowing developers write concurrent programs more easily compared with traditional thread based approaches found other languages like Java or C++ etc.. Go also includes features such static typing & type inference allowing developers write their codebase faster while still maintaining type safety compared with dynamically typed languages like Python or Ruby etc..

Conclusion

In conclusion there are many different programming languages out there but not all of them are Turing complete - some may only be suitable for specific tasks while others may have more general purpose capabilities allowing them solve wider range problems than others might not able too due their lack certain features needed make them truly Turing complete etc.. However some popular examples include C++, Java, Python, JavaScript, Ruby & Go all which have been proven capable simulating any other system instructions making them truly Turing complete according this definition etc..