A Learning Algorithm for Deterministic Finite Automata using JFLAP

  • Authors:
  • Mikel Alecha;Montserrat Hermo

  • Affiliations:
  • Dpto. de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos. Facultad de Informática. Universidad del País Vasco. Paseo Manuel de Lardizbal, 1 20018-San Sebastián, Spain;Dpto. de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos. Facultad de Informática. Universidad del País Vasco. Paseo Manuel de Lardizbal, 1 20018-San Sebastián, Spain

  • Venue:
  • Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS)
  • Year:
  • 2009

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

The JFLAP package is a free, interactive visualization, and teaching tool for formal languages. JFLAP is based on the principle that a picture of a concept can be easier to understand than a textual representation. With the help of this package, we implement Dana Angluin's algorithm which is able to learn Deterministic Finite Automata. The use of JFLAP allows users to visualize each step in the process of learning. The protocol used by the algorithm is called exact learning from membership and equivalence queries. This protocol was also introduced by Dana Angluin, who showed that her learning algorithm discovers the unique minimum automaton coherent with the queries in an efficient running time.