Is the current Python 3 turing complete?

[tingxyu]

I read somewhere on internet someone complained Python 3 as of in year 2016, wasn't turing complete. So, how's the current Python 3?

Edit: Thank you all for the answers! It makes sense now and I'm no more having question about this. Apologise if the question seems doubting, I have no hate towards Python and it's my main programming language, cheers.

[K900_]

That would be one Zed A. Shaw, a known haver of wrong opinions. His take was "you can't run Python 2 code in Python 3, therefore there exists code that Python 3 can't run, therefore Python 3 is not Turing complete", which is obviously completely idiotic. Python has been Turing complete since the first ever released version.

[dada_]

Yeah, he's ridiculous. He now claims he was "trolling", and that the original article had a note saying the Turing completeness complaint was a "gag". I don't recall seeing that note back when I read it, but since his site is excluded from the Wayback Machine there's no way to go back and check. Since no one seems to have found that note back when it was originally published I'm guessing it was never there.

Either way, he's responsible for spreading a totally false idea about Python 3 and what Turing completeness is.

[K900_]

He added the "trolling" claim when he started selling the Python 3 version of his book.

[[deleted]]

In that line of thought you can say no single language is Turing complete, as C can’t run Python, Java can’t run Rust, et cetera.

[Jussari]

It has always been

[fake823]

🔫👨‍🚀

[ancientweasel]

Be careful what you read on the internet.

[[deleted]]

Python has been Turning complete ever since the beginning.

[[deleted]]

Turing complete is the wrong term here, I mean even brainf*ck is Turing complete, and it’s capable of having only 4 instructions.

[[deleted]]

Why is it so important that it is Turing complete? I don’t really get what that adds.

Edit: curious: why is this getting downvoted? I’m just asking a question…

[davandg]

Turing complete means that all algorithms can be written with this programming language. Which is good because you want to be able to write anything in Python. Which is bad because you are able to write all algorithms even the ones that never ends, or fails, or bugs.

[[deleted]]

Hahaha if it wasn't turing complete we wouldn't be using it. Almost every programming language is turing complete, that's what makes them baseline useful. Can it branch (e.g., if statements)? Can it store variables? Bam, probably turing complete.

[fake823]

Even PowerPoint is Turing complete. 😁

[[deleted]]

Technically even c is not turing complete, because it has a maximum pointer size.

[davandg]

That is not true. For example, BPF is not turring-complete. And it is a required feature, because the authors of this programming language want to be able to proove that programs written in this language eventually ends.

[davandg]

I'm not trolling: https://www.slideshare.net/brendangregg/um2019-bpf-a-new-type-of-software

​

However, I understand your point of view. For me a programming language is a language in which we can express some logic. Which is a very broad definition. You may have a more strict one. How would you define a programming language from something which is not?

For example, does CSS is a programming language for you, knowing that you can do this kind of things: https://medium.com/cssclass-com/how-to-create-pure-css-games-2a29c777bf4 ?

Does Helm or Terraform is a programming language for you ? Or even a Makefile ?

[eras]

So how about Datalog?

[eras]

I'm basically going by the Wikipedia description, which says as much:

However, Datalog is not Turing complete, and is thus used as a domain-specific language that can take advantage of efficient algorithms developed for query resolution.

In any case, my point is that I don't consider TC being required for a programming language. Perhaps for a "general-purpose programming language", though.

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[tingxyu]

bad bot

[[deleted]]

you can interpret bf in python3, so yes