Talk:Automata theory

message: I am considering, as my first wikontribution, an edit of this page, and am in the name of caution mentioning it here first (I see I'm supposed to Be Bold, but the edit I have in mind seems a bit radical...).  This page describes almost exclusively finite automata, even going so far as to claim that automata theory is the study of finite automata, and other similar conflations.  There's a perfectly excellent entry on finite automata at Finite state machine, even linked in this article.  The section of Automata theory detailing the description/notation of DFAs is arguably better (more detailed), although there is a link from Finite state machine to State diagram, which largely rectifies this weakness.
I propose that Automata theory ought to have a high-level description of automata theory in general; its place in computing science and its history for example.  There is also room for sub-sections on DFAs, PDAs, Turing Machines, and other automata, condensed from the material in those entries.  The additional detail currently given in this entry should be moved to Finite State Machine, or arguably to State Diagram.  
--jholman 04:12, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: JHolman is right, this article's definition of automata theory is bull. I've put a {Disputed} template on it, and will edit it when I've got the time. (Unless someone beats me to it...) Qwertyus 10:46, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misc 

message: Could anyone possibly add a section discussing some of the applications of automata theory, both in computation and other sciences? For example:
Applications of Automata TheoryKeith 03:13, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: added a applications sections.ƒoאŁoɠicƙtalk 01:22, 25 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Applications of Automata Theory?

message: === Semigroup Applications ===
I liked seeing the example of applying Semigroups to computer science.  Greater reader interest could be generated by listing more examples of Semigroups used in communications theory, partical physics, and other areas of applied mathematics.
:iirc, algebraic automata theory makes heavy use of semigroups. far as i can see, there's currently no page on WP covering that stuff. perhaps folks knowledgable in that area would being willing to take that up. Mct mht 05:50, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Copied from [[semigroup]] talk page 

message: I liked seeing the example of applying Semigroups to computer science.  Greater reader interest could be generated by listing more examples of Semigroups used in communications theory, partical physics, and other areas of applied mathematics.
:iirc, algebraic automata theory makes heavy use of semigroups. far as i can see, there's currently no page on WP covering that stuff. perhaps folks knowledgable in that area would being willing to take that up. Mct mht 05:50, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semigroup Applications 

message: This article failed the GA noms due to lack of inline citations and unexplained jargon. Tarret 20:51, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Failed GA

message: I just came to this article for the first time, and can't see a thing I'd improve in it.  So I've nominated it as a good article. JulesH 20:40, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  GA nomination 

message: One of the Central subjects of CS. Needs more inline references and a bit of cleanup to reach GA. Adam McCormick 08:08, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: WikiProject Computer science comments

message: Hopcroft and Ullman have a table in their book that summarizes a load of theorems for given decision problems for each of the automata/language classes. I have created a much enhanced table for wikipedia, that for undecidable problems specifies where exactly in the sarithmetic hiearchy the problem lies, and for decidable problems gives either the complexity class (like for example \mathcal{PSPACE}-complete), or the runtime of an algorithm.
The question I have is where should such a table go? It belongs to automata theory. formal languages, and formal grammars, but also to complexity and decidability. But the table seems out of place for inclusion on any particular page. Any suggestion on where it should go? Hahahaha4 (talk) 15:53, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Summary of algorithm/complexity of decision problems for automata 

message: Does the "reversible FSA" class is equivalent to the FSA class or not? My opinion is that the reversible FSA is lower than the Aperiodic finite state automaton. --77.126.244.146 (talk) 13:12, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Which level? 

message: "A FSM is a machine that, given an input of symbols, "jumps", or transitions, through a series of states according to a transition function (which can be expressed as a table). "
"that..." needs an independant clause. "given..." is a dependant clause, as is "through...". something like that anyway...
Sahuagin (talk) 19:53, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: No, this is a complete sentence.  To demonstrate that, let me delete several parenthetical asides, to get an equivalent sentence: "A FSM is a machine that jumps through a series of states".   I'm guessing that your confusion was to assume that "symbols, jumps, or transitions" was a list of alternatives, which is a bad parse.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by JHolman (talk • contribs) 01:41, 7 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text:  Ah, I see; in that case there are way too many commas. It should then read: "A FSM is a machine that, given an input of symbols, "jumps" or transitions through a series of states according to a transition function (which can be expressed as a table)." Sahuagin (talk) 06:28, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

text: Um, this all reminds me of a joke I just read about a computer programmer and his wife. She asks him to go to the corner shop to get a carton of milk, and if they have some eggs to get six. Off he goes and comes back with six cartons of milk. 'Why did the you get all that milk', she asks with great restraint. 'They had eggs', replies the husband. Dmcq (talk) 16:10, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not a complete sentence? 

message: I just thought I'd say that I find the use of Q/q confusing, in the intro section. Perhaps a new symbol, something that is not q, for the start state? Joseph Fyfield 02:05, 6 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Uses of Capital/Lowercase Q/q 

message: John von Neumann would not have been so restrictive in his approach to automata theory; his view would have been far broader than might be suggested by the definition given in this article.  On need read either The Computer and The Brain or his Hixon Symposium paper to reach this conclusion.  Clearly, biological phenomena figured strongly in von Neumann's motivations to develop automata theory, and this article should soundly express this historical fact.  William R. Buckley (talk) 05:42, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article too narrowly construes the notion of a theory of automata 

message: I've added the {confusing} template to the page as, well, it just is. I'm quite surprised that this was nominated as a good article. It isn't a good article.
The introduction is okay, but the detailed description makes no sense to a newcomer. Ideally a newcomer should be able to learn about the topic from reading the article. Currently this is not possible as the article text moves too fast through the topic to do this. It starts off with a confusing explanation of automata terminology in one paragraph. It then lapses into the ⟨Q,Σ,δ,q0,A⟩ symbols which are poorly explained. Some example automata might be necessary to facilitate this. Currently it is all very abstract.
After this point it takes great pains to describe variation in automata in great detail. None of this makes any sense at all as the core idea has not properly been explained yet. And it is not clear what the difference is between a **class** and a **category** of automata.
Before you ask, I cannot improve the article as I do not understand the topic. 213.123.192.77 (talk) 12:30, 26 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Confusing 

message: No description is given about what it does, but it appears to recognize bit-strings with an even number of 0's, maybe some statement about this could be added to the description.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.3.137.225 (talk) 18:19, 25 February 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  FSA in the main picture 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified  on Automata theory. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111116215852/http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/CartesianClosedCategory.html to http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/CartesianClosedCategory.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110915074653/http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/SequentialMachine3.html to http://planetmath.org/encyclopedia/SequentialMachine3.html
*Added  tag to http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/luke.ong/personal/teaching/moc/pda2up.pdf
*Added  tag to http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/luke.ong/personal/teaching/moc/pda2up.pdf
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090503173000/http://www.cs.usfca.edu:80/~jbovet/vas.html to http://www.cs.usfca.edu/~jbovet/vas.html
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 05:55, 22 October 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Is that basically the the short name for the revolutionary calender and the wheel of the year? Myhartstands4 (talk) 00:32, 23 September 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Turning machine 

message: Is this really about 66.199.44.249 (talk) 21:40, 5 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wtf 

message: seems odd that Stephen Wolfram is not mentioned in this wiki article .. 2601:3C5:4202:2B30:B8B2:DC0A:244A:668B (talk) 07:25, 26 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  cellular automata