Newsgroups: comp.ai.nat-lang,comp.lang.prolog
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!news.mathworks.com!uunet!allegra!alice!pereira
From: pereira@radish.research.att.com (Fernando Pereira)
Subject: Re: code for finite automata
In-Reply-To: et@cogsci.ed.ac.uk's message of Sun, 12 Feb 1995 10:45:15 GMT
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	<ET.95Feb12104515@burns.cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 22:21:43 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai.nat-lang:2881 comp.lang.prolog:12256

In article <ET.95Feb12104515@burns.cogsci.ed.ac.uk> et@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Tomaz Erjavec) writes:
   Still, Pereira's answer does not answer the original query: is a FSA
   library available? I find it really bizarre that such basic algorithms
   of computer science that are taught to undergraduates are not
   available in the public domain.
Here's a message that I saved a while ago on FSM packages. I didn't
investigate it further, since we have built our own (sorry, it's not
publicly available).

From: guha@sprecher.cs.uwm.edu (Dr. Sumanta Guha)
Newsgroups: comp.theory
Subject: Software for Automata Theory - summary
Date: 14 Sep 93 01:25:02 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.9.17


The following are the different packages that were
suggested to me by several people (thanks again to
all of them!) in response to a request for information 
about software for learning/teaching automata theory.
Sumanta Guha
UW-Milwaukee
*************************************************

>From dejong@imec.be Mon Sep  6 01:55:03 1993
From: Gjalt de Jong <dejong@imec.be>

Subject: Software for automata theory - info request.

I have made a tool called fadela which maybe is exactly what you want, although
it hasn't any graphical user interface. You can find a version as
pub/gjalt/fadela1.4.tar.gz by anonymous ftp from ftp.es.ele.tue.nl. In the very
short future, I will place there an updated version.

__
Gjalt de Jong			Email: dejong@imec.be
IMEC vzw			tel. +32 16 281 228
VSDM / 3.04			fax. +32 16 281 515
Kapeldreef 75, B 3001 Leuven, Belgium

****************************************************

>From drraymon@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca Tue Sep  7 07:32:34 1993
From: Darrell Raymond <drraymon@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca>

Subject: Re: Software for automata theory - info request.

  We don't have a fancy X-windows interface, but we do have some
software for manipulating finite automata and regular expressions
that runs on Unix machines.  I append the README below.  You can 
ftp grail from daisy.uwaterloo.ca in directory nih; 
grail1.1.src.tar.Z is the source and documentation, and 
grail1.1.bin.tar.Z is sparc binaries.

  I'd appreciate it if you could send me a list of any other packages
you hear about.

  I will also add your name to our mailing list to keep you informed
about future releases.

-Darrell.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
			Grail Version 1.1, August 1993

	Grail is a package of software for symbolic computation with 
	finite automata and regular expressions.  It is freely available 
	to students, educators, and anyone who simply wants to use the 
	software for their own amusement or education.  Commercial uses 
	of Grail, or the incorporation of any part of Grail in a 
	commercial product, is not allowed without our approval.  Grail
	is not in the public domain.
	
	Compiling.
	----------
	Version 1.1 of Grail compiles cleanly under AT&T's cfront, 
	version 3.0.  I have not tried other compilers.  Grail uses 
	templates, so any compiler which does not have good template 
	support is not likely to work.

	To compile the source code, change the X macro in the top
	level Makefile to indicate the executable of the C++ compiler 
	you are using.  Then do

		make clean
		make 

	This will compile each class, then compile all Grail filters.
	To test the filters, do

		make checkout

	If any errors occur, the results will be found in tests/errors/*.

	After compilation, the Grail filters should be located in bin,
	and the library in lib.
 
	Documentation.
	-------------

	There are man pages for each of the filters in bin, and there
	is a draft version of a "User's Guide" in docs/user.  At the 
	moment there is no "Programmer's Guide". We hope to have one 
	available for the next release of Grail.

	Keep us informed!
	-----------------

	Version 1.1 of Grail should be considered a beta release.
	Please report any bugs or suggestions for improvements to
	me at drraymon@daisy.uwaterloo.ca.  I will try to fix 
	glaring errors as soon as possible; suggested improvements,
	if worthwhile, will be incorporated in the next release of
	Grail.

	We'd like to know how Grail suits your needs, and we're 
	particularly interested in any special uses you find for it.
	Please take a moment to send us a message about your
	experiences with Grail, as this is the only way we can
	keep Grail relevant to its users.

	Darrell Raymond
	Department of Computer Science
	University of Waterloo
	Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
	N2L 3G1
	drraymon@daisy.uwaterloo.ca

*******************************************************
>From rodger@cs.rpi.edu Tue Sep  7 07:40:27 1993
From: Susan Rodger <rodger@cs.rpi.edu>

Here is the announcement I sent out that tells you how to obtain 
FLAP. I don't know if it will compile on the PC/Xwindows platform.

If you do get it running, please send me comments.

Susan Rodger

--------------------------------------------------------------------
FLAP: A tool for teaching automata theory

Announcing FLAP (Formal Languages and Automata Package).  FLAP is a
tool for drawing and simulating finite automata, pushdown automata and
Turing machines. Using FLAP, one can draw a graphical representation
(transition diagram) of an automaton, simulate the automaton on some
input, and edit it based on their observations.

Special features of FLAP include:

* handles nondeterminism
* can choose either slow (step by step) or fast ("instant" 
  reply of acceptance) simulation
* the ability to reproduce a part or whole simulation
* print final design
* online help
* read/write files 

FLAP was developed using C++, the X Window System and the Athena
Widget set.

To obtain a copy of FLAP, ftp to ftp.cs.rpi.edu and login as
anonymous. Once logged on, type "cd flap" followed by, "bin" to
transfer in binary, then "get FLAP.6-93.tar.Z" to get the most current
version (for g++ v2.3.3). An old version for g++ v2 is also available.

After extracting all the files from the tarfile, there should be a main
directory called flap. In this directory, use the file quick_install
to create the binaries. It explains that there are some files that you
must edit first. Note that SUN binaries already exist but must be
recompiled for the print facilities to work properly. 

There is a user manual in latex in the directory /manual. In addition, 
there is online help, and also text versions of help for each of the
three automata tools in /doc.

We are interested in comments, problems, suggestions for improvement,
how you are using the software, etc. If you would like to be added to 
our mailing list to hear about new versions, new tools, etc. drop us
an email note. Thanks.

For questions, comments, and requests contact:

               Susan Rodger
               Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
               rodger@cs.rpi.edu

See also:

M. LoSacco and S. Rodger, FLAP: A Tool for Drawing and Simulating Automata, 
ED-MEDIA 93, World Conference on Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 
p. 310-317, June 1993. 

D. Caugherty and S. Rodger, NPDA: A Tool for Visualizing and
Simulating Nondeterministic Pushdown Automata, Proceedings of the
DIMACS Workshop on Computational Support for Discrete Mathematics.
(to appear).
------- End of forwarded message -------

--
Fernando Pereira
2B-441, AT&T Bell Laboratories
600 Mountain Ave, PO Box 636
Murray Hill, NJ 07974-0636
pereira@research.att.com
1-908-582-3980


