Preface

Contents

Index

Glossary

Models

Rogues

Glossary

Automata

The plural of automaton.  That's right.  The plural of automaton is automata, not automatons.  It's a Greek thing.  Deal with it.

Automaton

A device that functions automatically.  In the context of computer science, it is a model of computation.  Input is provided by the user, which is then processed automatically by the automaton to obtain a result.  In this sense, an automaton is very much like an algorithm.

Coke Machine

You don't know what a Coke machine is?  You're kidding, right?

State

No, not the place in which you live, or some country somewhere in the world.  Rather, state is used in the context of an automaton and refers to what is remembered by the finite control of the automaton at any point in a computation.  So, "state" refers in some sense to the "state of being" of the automaton at any given point in its computation.