How Alan Turing accidentally invented Software

Abstract: We use software regularly without thinking too much of it, but do you wonder how it all came to be? Turing was the first person to realize that by using different software a single machine can be made to perform any task. In this talk, we will demonstrate his insight through a series of demos.

This was inspired by my reading of Turing’s 1936 paper, initially for a Papers We Love session. I gave this talk at GeekCampSG 2019. I remember speaking to other attendees after the talk about the different types of typewriters. One of the rare talks where there was some follow-up discussion.