Automata Simulator 🤖

A Python toolkit for simulating two foundational models of computation: Cellular Automata and Turing Machines.

Cellular Automaton

A mathematical model where cells on a grid evolve step-by-step according to transition rules. This implementation supports:

• Custom states and transition functions
• Multiple simulation modes: n steps, until stabilization, or until a target configuration
• Configuration save/load (JSON)
• Detection of accepting/rejecting states

Turing Machine

A universal model of computation. This simulator reads a machine definition from a .tm file and executes it step by step.

Definition file format:

alphabet: 1 _
states: q0 q1 q_accept
initial: q0
accepting: q_accept
transitions:
q0 1 -> q0 1 R
q0 _ -> q1 1 L
q1 1 -> q_accept 1 R

Features:

• Dynamic tape expansion
• Step-by-step execution with state trace
• Configurable max steps (halting problem safeguard)

Getting Started

# Cellular automaton
make run-ca

# Turing machine
python src/turing.py data/example.tm

# See all commands
make

Tech Stack

Tool	Purpose
Python 3	Core language
JSON	Configuration persistence
Makefile	Task automation

Authors

Ahmad Hatoum

L3 Computer Science project — Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines