Finite state techniques : automata transducers and bimachines Preface Finite state techniques provide theoretically elegant and computationally ef cient solutions for various (hard non trivial) problems in text and natural language processing. Due to its importance in many fundamental applications the theory of nite state automata and related nite state machines has been extensively studied and its development still continues. This textbook describes the basics of nite state technology following a combined mathematical and implementational point of view. It is written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in computer science computational linguistics and mathematics. Though concepts are introduced in a mathematically rigorous way and correctness proofs for all procedures are given the book is not meant as a purely theoretical introduction to the subject. The ultimate goal is to bring students to a position where they can both understand and implement complex nite state based procedures for practically relevant tasks