Turing-complete

A Turing complete language is a programming language that has the capability to simulate any Turing machine. This means that the language can be used to solve any computation problem that can be described algorithmically, given enough time and memory resources. The concept is named after the British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing.

For a language to be considered Turing complete, it must have:

1. Conditional branching: The ability to execute different sets of instructions based on the outcome of some condition (e.g., if-else statements).
2. Variables and state management: The ability to store and manipulate values.
3. Looping or recursion: The capacity to repeatedly execute a block of code (e.g., for-loops, while-loops) or to allow for functions to call themselves.

Most modern programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, C++, and Java, are Turing complete because they can be used to implement any computable function. The significance of Turing completeness is more theoretical than practical, as it sets a foundational benchmark for the computational power of programming languages and systems. It essentially means that, in terms of computation capabilities, a Turing complete language can perform any calculation that any other programmable computer is capable of.