I read the Wikipedia page I linked to in my article on Turing Machines. This was my mistake, I didn’t realize how poorly the Wikipedia article was written, and how much is incorrect. I encourage you to read “On Computable Numbers” by Turing.
The description of a Turing Machine as a “tape machine” is merely an illustration and not meant to be taken literally. Turing Machines are merely mathematical models which define state-based transitions, usually in tabular form.
The description of a Turing Machine as a “tape machine” is merely an illustration and not meant to be taken literally. Turing Machines are merely mathematical models which define state-based transitions, usually in tabular form.
This link from Stanford is a much better description: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-machine/