Hi Michael,

Thanks for the advice regarding automatic code generation programs. You sound as though you've had quite a bit of exposure to these tools, Michael, so I very much appreciate your experienced point of view.

Hmm...it sounds like one would do best not to rely too heavily on the automated code generation capabilities of such SE tools. I rather like working with the handy graphical environment they provide for state/ transition diagram development, though. Maybe the real value of such programs is in their enforcement of good design principles during the development of state machine visual representations.

Once all the clever diagram based development is out of the way, then I suppose hand coding the state machine really is fairly straightforward. Maybe intending state machine code developers would be just as well off if they employed a graphics package with state diagram drawing capabilities, or maybe just stuck with good old paper and pencil?

There's definitely something to be said for the use of state diagrams in my opinion, though. In terms of coding ability, I was astonished by what I could achieve once I learnt to view all programs as state machines, and started following the diagram based development path to their realisation. Previously incomprehensibly complex tasks became orderly and manageable solutions.

Sorry, I'm rather rudely hogging your thread here, David. I'm just very excited by the notion of state machines, and about such entities that operate in a cooperative fashion, even more so.

Regards,
Murray R. Van Luyn.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~vanluynm/