Applied Automata Theory

Book excerpt: Applied Automata Theory provides an engineering style of presentation of some of the applied work in the field of automata theory. Topics covered range from algebraic foundations and recursive functions to regular expressions, threshold logic, and switching circuits. Coding problems and stochastic processes are also discussed, along with content addressable memories, probabilistic reliability, and Turing machines. Much emphasis is placed on engineering applications. Comprised of nine chapters, this book first deals with the algebraic foundations of automata theory, focusing on concepts such as semigroups, groups and homomorphisms, and partially ordered sets and lattices, as well as congruences and other relations. The reader is then introduced to regular expressions; stochastic automata and discrete systems theory; and switching networks as models of discrete stochastic processes. Subsequent chapters explore applications of automata theory in coding; content addressable and distributed logic memories; recursive functions and switching-circuit theory; and synthesis of a cellular computer. The book concludes with an assessment of the fundamentals of threshold logic. This monograph is intended for graduates or advanced undergraduates taking a course in information science or a course on discrete systems in modern engineering curriculum.