A tutorial on finite automata

Introduction

In most fields of science, problem resolution is based on the use of formal models. A formal model deals with mathematical objects that represent abstractions of the real entities to be modelled.

Formal models basically require:

to formalize the problem, i.e. to choose a language that describes it;
to solve the formal problem by means of the tools provided by the choosen formalism;

Models play an essential role in computer science:

computer scientists need models to represent a computer system at different levels of abstraction, for understanding it, or designing it, or even using it;

We introduce two fundamental classes of computer science models: automata and grammars.

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