The transformation of a nondeterministic finite-state automaton into a deterministic finite-state automaton is an integral part of any course on formal languages and automata theory. For some students, understanding this transformation is challenging. Common problems encountered include not comprehending how the states of the deterministic finite-state automaton are determined and not comprehending the role that all the edges of the nondeterministic finite-state automaton have in the deterministic finite-state automaton's construction. To aid students in understanding, transformation visualization tools have been developed. Although useful in helping students, these tools do not properly illustrate the relationship between the states of the deterministic finite-state automaton and the edges of the nondeterministic finite-state automaton. This article presents a novel interactive visualization tool to illustrate the transformation that highlights this relationship and that is integrated into the FSM programming language. In addition, the implementation of the visualization is sketched.
翻译:非确定型有限状态自动机转换为确定型有限状态自动机是形式语言与自动机理论课程的重要组成部分。对部分学生而言,理解这一转换过程极具挑战性。常见问题包括:无法理解确定型有限状态自动机状态的确定方式,以及非确定型有限状态自动机中所有边在构建确定型有限状态自动机时所起的作用。为帮助学生理解,研究者已开发出转换可视化工具。这些工具虽有助于教学,但未能恰当展示确定型有限状态自动机状态与非确定型有限状态自动机边之间的对应关系。本文提出一种新型交互式可视化工具,通过凸显该对应关系来演示转换过程,并将其集成至FSM编程语言。此外,本文还概述了该可视化工具的实现方法。