It calculates a cellular automata called Rule 110 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_110) which is very difficult to code for. I've seen a paper which shows a method for coding any Turing machine into rule 110, but most of it is beyond my mathematical ability at the moment. So far as I know nothing resembling a normal compiler exists for it.
It's actually much simpler to make a mechanical implementation of rule 110 directly, but Turing machines are more widely recognised.
It's actually much simpler to make a mechanical implementation of rule 110 directly, but Turing machines are more widely recognised.