Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!milano!dweazel!wme
From: wme@dweazel.sw.mcc.com (Michael Evangelist)
Newsgroups: comp.theory
Subject: Re: Design of FA's with a GUI
Summary: Additional information.
Keywords: graphics, finite automata, state machines
Message-ID: <3439@dweazel.sw.mcc.com>
Date: 13 Feb 90 22:52:17 GMT
Distribution: comp
Organization: MCC, Austin, TX
Lines: 21


In article <1990Feb13.143415.12763@cs.rochester.edu>, fulk@cs.rochester.edu (Mark Fulk) writes:
> David Harel (harel@wisdom.weizmann.ac.il) and Amir Pnueli have an extremely
> nice system based on their notion of "state charts". 
> 

David does have a nice system for succinct representation of fsa. If
you want to represent more general computational structures that use
multiparty interactions for interprocess synchronization and
communication, my group at MCC has a visual tool called VERDI that
fits the bill nicely. (See the paper by me, Nissim Francez, and
Shmuel Katz in the November, 1989, TSE for background on
interactions.)

I am hoping to get VERDI binaries released to universities. VERDI is
a design tool for distributed systems, but it could easily be used
for teaching the elements of concurrency to undergraduates and would
be available at nominal charge. If you are interested, help me make
the case by sending email to evangelist@mcc.com. 

Mike Evangelist