Introduction Definition Types Deterministic FSA Regular Expressions Building A DFA

Finite State Automata

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Introduction Definition Types Deterministic FSA Regular Expressions Building A DFA

» Contents

Introduction
Definition
Types

Deterministic FSA
Regular Expressions

Building A DFA

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» What is Finite State Automata?

∗ A Finite State Automata (FSA), also known as a Finite State

Machine (FSM), is a mathematical model used to represent
and control the execution of processes that can be in a finite
number of states
∗ Imagine it as a simple computer with a limited amount of
memory. It can only be in one state at a time and transitions
between these states based on the input it receives.

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» Definition

Definition
Finite state automata is 3 tuple(S, Σ,T) where
S A finite set of states, one of which is the initial
state sinit .
Σ The alphabet, of source symbols.
T is a finite set of state transitions defining transitions
out of each si  S on encountering the symbols Σ.

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» State Transitiion Tables

∗ We label the transitions of FSA using the conventions:

A transition out of si  S on encountering a symbol symb  Σ
has the label symb
∗ We say a symbol symb is recognized by FSA when the FSA
makes a transition labelled symb.
∗ The transitions in an FSA can be represented in the form of a
State Transition Table (STT).
∗ An STT has one row for each state si and one column for
each symbol symb  Σ

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» State Transition Tables Contd

∗ An entry in STT(si , symb) in the table indicates the id of the

new state entered by the FSA if there exists a transition
labelled symb in state si .
∗ if the FSA does not contain a transition out of state si we
leave STT(si , symb) blank
∗ A state transition can also be represented by a triple (old
state, source symbol, new state).
∗ thus the entry STT(si , symb) = sj and the triple (si , symb,
sj ) are equivalent.

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» Types

∗ Deterministic FSA
∗ Non Deterministic FSA

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» Deterministic FSA

∗ In DFA Transitions are Deterministic , that is at most one

transition exists in state si for a symbol symb
Defintion A deterministic finite state automation (DFA) is an FSA such
that ti  T, t1 ≡ (si , symb, sj )
implies 3! t2  T, t2 ≡ (si , symb, sk )

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» Deterministic FSA

∗ At any point in time DFA would recognize some prefix α of

the source string, possibly the null string.
∗ The operation of DFA is history sensitive because its current
state is a function of the prefix recognized by it.
∗ The DFA halts when all symbols in the source string are
recognized, or an error condition is encountered.
∗ The string is valid if and only if the DFA recognizes every
symbol in the string and find itself in a final state at the end
of the sring.

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» Transition Table

State Next Symbol

d
Start Int
Int Int
STT to recognize integer string

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» Visual Representation

q0 d q1
start

DFA for Integer strings

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» DFA States Description

q0 Initial state
q1 Valid identifier state (accepts only integer strings)
Accepts:
∗ Literals: 42, 314, 1234 100

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» Regular Expressions

Definition Regular expressions are a generalization of type 3 production

rules.
∗ The regular expression generalizes on Type 3 rules by
premitting multiple occurences of a string form, and
concatenation of strings.

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» Some Regexes

Regular Expression Meaning

r string r
s string s
r .s or rs concatenation of r and s
(r ) same meaning as r
r | s or (r | s) alternation, i.e., string r or string s
(r ) | (s) alternation
[r ] an optional occurrence of string r
(r )∗ 0 or more occurrences of string r
(r )+ 1 or more occurrences of string r
Regular Expression Notation

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» DFA for integers, real numbers and

identifiers
letter, digit

Id
letter

start s1
digit

digit
. digit
Int s2 Real

digit

DFA for Identifiers and Numeric Literals [15/18]

Introduction Definition Types Deterministic FSA Regular Expressions Building A DFA

» DFA States Description

s1 Initial state
Id Valid identifier state (accepts letters, digits)
Int Integer literal state
s2 Decimal point after integer state (not a final state)
Real Decimal point state
Accepts:
∗ Identifiers: x, name, my_var, temp1
∗ Literals: 42, 3.14, 0.123, 100

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» Transition Table

State Next Symbol

l d .
s1 Id int
Id Id
Int Int s2
s2 Real
Real Real
Transition Table for integers, real numbers and identifiers

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» DFA Flow

∗ Start State

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» DFA Flow

∗ Start State
∗ Goes to Id state from Start if Letter is the first input symbol

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» DFA Flow

∗ Start State
∗ Goes to Id state from Start if Letter is the first input symbol
∗ Goes to the same state Id for digits and letters as input
symbols

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» DFA Flow

∗ Start State
∗ Goes to Id state from Start if Letter is the first input symbol
∗ Goes to the same state Id for digits and letters as input
symbols
∗ Goes to Int state from Start state if a digit is received as the
input symbol

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» DFA Flow

∗ Start State
∗ Goes to Id state from Start if Letter is the first input symbol
∗ Goes to the same state Id for digits and letters as input
symbols
∗ Goes to Int state from Start state if a digit is received as the
input symbol
∗ Goes to the same state Int for Consecutive digit input symbols

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» DFA Flow

∗ Start State
∗ Goes to Id state from Start if Letter is the first input symbol
∗ Goes to the same state Id for digits and letters as input
symbols
∗ Goes to Int state from Start state if a digit is received as the
input symbol
∗ Goes to the same state Int for Consecutive digit input symbols
∗ Goes to s2 state from Int state if a decimal point received as
the input symbol

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» DFA Flow

∗ Start State
∗ Goes to Id state from Start if Letter is the first input symbol
∗ Goes to the same state Id for digits and letters as input
symbols
∗ Goes to Int state from Start state if a digit is received as the
input symbol
∗ Goes to the same state Int for Consecutive digit input symbols
∗ Goes to s2 state from Int state if a decimal point received as
the input symbol
∗ Goes to Real state for further digits as input symbols

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