NAME

DFA::ATN -- An augmented transition network object.

DESCRIPTION

my $Obj = new DFA::ATN $Actions,[States];

This creates a powerful automaton with a finite number of individual states. It inherits many of its methods from DFN::Simple. The object is composed of the following three things (with methods to match):

State

The object has a particular state it is in; a specific state from a set of possible states. DFA::Simple

State Stack

You can push a stack onto the stack, or pop one off. The register frame is saved and restored as well.

Actions

The object when enterring or leaving a state may perform some action. DFA::Simple

Rules

The object has rules for determining what its next state should be, and how to get there. DFA::Simple

Registers

The object has the method for storing and retrieving information about its processing.

The State Stack

$Obj->Save;
$Obj->Restore;

Save will save the current state of the automaton, including the registers.

Restore will restore the automaton's previously saved state and registers.

Register

$Obj->Register->{'name'}='fred';

Register is a method that can set or get the objects register reference. This is a information that the actions, conditions, or transitions can employ in their processing. The reference can be anything. It is otherwise not used by the object implementation.

Installation

perl Makefile.PL
make
make install

Author

Randall Maas (randym@acm.org, http://www.hamline.edu/~rcmaas/)