https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Littlebobbytables 2026-04-26T01:47:59Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=205:_Candy_Button_Paper&diff=31390 2013-03-28T02:31:58Z

<p>Littlebobbytables: Created page with &quot;{{comic | number = 205 | date = January 3, 2007 | title = Candy Button Paper | image = candy_button_paper.png | titletext = Nonrewriteable tape? }} ==Explanat...&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 205<br /> | date = January 3, 2007<br /> | title = Candy Button Paper<br /> | image = candy_button_paper.png<br /> | titletext = Nonrewriteable tape?<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This comic refers to Candy Buttons(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Buttons), a type of candy sold by Necco in the U.S. since 1980. Because of the resemblance of the strips of paper to the tape of a Turing Machine(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine), a small minority of children pretended to be a Turing Machine by creating rules and executing them upon the tape of candy exactly like a real Turing Machine would do. <br /> <br /> The title text refers to the fact that, although it would be hypothetically possible to create a Turing Machine that can only delete symbols, the information density of the tape would be greatly reduced, and the original Turing Machine could read and write from the tape it operated on.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :When it came to eating strips of candy buttons, there were two main strategies. Some kids carefully removed each bead, checking closely for paper residue before eating.<br /> :Others tore the candy off haphazardly, swallowing large scraps of paper as they ate.<br /> :Then there were the lonely few of us who moved back and forth on the strip, eating rows of beads here and there, pretending we were Turing machines.<br /> <br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> &lt;!-- Include any categories below this line--&gt;</div>

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