This is my last entry on this topic I ve had my say Perhaps the dialog has been useful to someone I suggest that you add your references I think the older ones are wonderful i e Huffman Mealy Moore I looked for Shannon s stuff but have been unsuccessful so far in finding anything except references back to the 1930 s I am still curious I suggest you consider the quotations Minsky Kozen Cannon that I presented above I may work on the state article to bring some of the various definitions out into the open The next time I get to the library I will explore your references You may see a bit of movement of bibliographic references stuff around as I explore more wvbailey