There are many references to it in public discussions, but trying to learn about it from Wikipedia is like reading in a new foreign language.
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The idea is actually very simple.
It’s basically an imaginary machine with an infinitely long tape, and there are infinite rows of empty squares or boxes on it, and those boxes are numbered so that you can tell which box is which. Then there’s a “head” or a “scanner” that analyzes that box 1 at a time. That head can write any kind of arbitrary symbols such as a number in that box. Or the head can delete or rewrite the symbol in that box. Or the head can move left or right to the box and move onto another box. Or the head can stop or “halt” the operation.
Well, why would you wanna do that or make something like that? Well if you’re a clever person, then you can potentially give any kind of instructions to this Turing Machine, and then look at the tape to see the result to solve any kind of arbitrary problems. Basically it’s a theoretical machine or a theoretical idea that can be used to automate any tasks, provided that you know how to give such instructions.
Basically a modern computer works in the same way, you give instructions to the CPU, the CPU analyzes and solves that problem 1 at a time, and then writes that result to the RAM or the hard drive. The only difference is that modern CPUs are solving millions of problems or “instructions” in a single second.
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