British mathematician Alan M. Turing wrote a number of papers on theoretical computer science. In one paper, written in 1936 bef
ore any programmable computer had ever been built, he described the logical structure any such machine would have to possess. His description of an idealized computer specified in mathematical terms the relations between the input, output, actions, and states of what is called a Turing machine. What can the reader infer from the passage?
A. Turing invented the first computer.
B. Turing physically developed the structure of a programmable computer.
C. Turing analyzed the first computer.
D. Turing conceived the structure of a programmable computer.
Answer: D. Turing conceived the structure of a programmable computer.
Explanation: The passage describes how Alan M. Turing described the theoretical aspect of a programmable computer. There is no reference to a physical machine or Turing working on an actual (physical) computer.
The Turing machine, although it does sound like a physical computer was an abstract idea, conceived in mathematical form of what a programmable machine would be like. Alan Turing is considered one of the founding fathers of theoretical computer science.
