random

[Remco Gerlich]

Alex Martelli <aleaxit at yahoo.com> wrote in comp.lang.python:
> I did find a different definition from the Stanford one,
> that did include the condition "there can be only finitely
> many non-blank squares on the tape" (presumably, although
> that wasn't clear to me from that definition, this means
> at the START of a run -- if the machine doesn't halt it
> may still be allowed to fill the tape with infinitely many
> non-blank squares eventually -- but I did not see this
> stated unambiguously one way or another).  Not all the
> definitions I've found strewn around include this
> provision, and it does make a huge difference of course.

No matter how long you let it run, there will always be a finite amount of
non-blank squares. The number may grow larger than any N you want to name,
but it'll never be infinite (I wonder what the last step would look like,
right before it becomes infinite).

-- 
Remco Gerlich