Drawing an automaton

1. Start with a blank, new automaton by choosing from the New submenu of the File menu. Automaton Simulator will allow you to create four types of machines: a deterministic finite automaton, a nondeterministic finite automaton, a deterministic push-down automaton, or a Turing machine. This short tutorial applies to finite automata only.

2. Select the state tool, pictured in the toolbar as a large red circle. Place the states on the canvas where you think they should go. Designate initial and final states by right-clicking (or command-clicking) the states.

3. Draw transitions between states using the transition tool, pictured in the toolbar as a line connecting two small red circles. Designate to which letters the transitions apply by right-clicking (or command-clicking) the transitions.

4. To simulate the automaton on a string, click the simulate button (pictured as a green right-pointing triangle). Now type the characters of the string. As you type, the current state of the automaton will update.

   To start a new string, click the button again.