state machine

English

Noun

state machine (plural state machines)

1. (computing theory) A formalism for describing computation, consisting of a set of states and a transition function describing when to move from one state to another.

   This algorithm will produce a state machine for parsing a given context-free grammar.

   Synonyms: automaton, finite-state machine, finite-state automaton

   Coordinate term: Turing machine

2. (Marxism) The state machinery; state apparatus.

Translations

formalism for describing computation

• Finnish: tilakone
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: automate fini (fr) m
• German: Zustandsmaschine f, endlicher Automat m

Further reading

• finite-state machine on Wikipedia.Wikipedia