Talk:Event-driven finite-state machine

Removed text

I removed the following from the article, as it appears to be unencyclopeadic, and/or confusing or strange:

The author of StateCHARTS uses the term event driven finite state machine to describe machines where any incoming input has to be consumed immediately, i.e. the FSM has to perform a transition or input action otherwise the input disappears.

In contrast to the StateCHART virtual finite state machine (VFSM) technology, the application of event driven FSM in complex systems leads to the state explosion problem, as each truly required state path must be repeated for all possible input values. Event driven FSM can be implemented with a state transition table as is often done for parser applications.

A significant reduction in complexity can be achieved by utilizing hierarchy a la hierarchical state machines (HSMs). The use of hierarchy eliminates the "state explosion" problem by allowing a single transition from multiple related states, through state nesting. A more rigorous definition of hierarchical state machines that includes an example can be found at http://www.quantum-leaps.com/resources/glossary.htm#HSM.

Possibly cite http://www.programmersheaven.com/2/Design-State-Machine-Engine (an example of someone speaking about event-driven state machines as an informal idiom)

Please don't re-insert without review. linas 21:40, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bug in program

There's a bug in this program as state_init == state_red, but there's separate STATE_INIT and STATE_RED states, so red will initially be on for 60 secs, not 30. Genjix (talk) 03:24, 17 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Controversiality

Why isn't there any discussion of why state machines could be a bad idea? This code could be a million times clearer if it was allowed to explicitly pend on events.