Finite State Machines explained

An explanation of what is a finite state machine with two examples and the difference between Moore and Mealy machines.

[sunillshinde-]

14 years back I was in college and couldn't understand this at all. but finally I understood this today. Thank you so much for simplifying.

[siddarthkudligi]

My prof took 4 hours of my time to make me more confused. You sir, are a godsend! Please keep up the great work!

[kai]

Dude you are freaking amazing. My professor could not explain this to me.

[sushantpaudel]

Wow, I came here in an attempt to understand FSM. I liked the video. Then I look at the comments, and WHOA! Everyone down here is so satisfied with how you put up the explanation. I couldn't agree less. Thank you very much sir!

[occamraiser]

I was shown this concept when I was a neophyte software engineer writing real time control software for telecoms systems in the 1980s (OMG a lifetime ago). I made a point of explaining this concept to every software engineer who ever worked for me in the next 40 years because it is such a simple, powerful and MOST IMPORTANTLY for process control - completely bulletproof. If Every state deals with every event (including those it should never see) you cannot break these systems.

I wince at the lack of detailed understanding low level computer concepts in the 'Object oriented or nothing' - 'pythonesque' sofware developers I meet now. My degree is in Computer Science not Software engineering, and all we seem to train these days are 'coders' who barely warrant the title Software Engineer, as they understand few of the basic concept they're writing software on top of.
I wonder how many of them could write Assembler, or optimise some P-code. Not necessary, but a skill that gives an important insight into what the machine is doing when it runs lazily written bloatware.
Rant over :)

[TheeAmbadassador]

Clear cut! Amazing stuff and definitely one of the best explanation I have ever seen.

[teenthathacx]

Dude thank you! I was told I should learn what a FSM is so I understood what the basics of it was in the wiki page but I decided to watch a video and you explained it way more in-depth. Thank you :) you earned a subscriber :D

[havinhphu]

You are the real MVP, sir. keep doing thing like this

[kpswnfg]

I just was sure I will not understand it forever, until I watched ur video! thank u it's very clear and simple

[marklee]

I wish every professor was this good as teaching as you. Thanks.

[Chill_TFO]

I was confused whenever i thought how can Moore machine work without i/p when you mentioned "time" immediately I understood it works on "triggering"(in this case the triggering is time) beautiful explanation you have my gratitude for clearing my concept sir, thankyou

[mrtoast]

Our professor move's through slides so quickly, you saved my lab report lol

[farris]

Thank you so much! Excellent and intuitive explanation, best I've ever come across actually.

[alexandercrescent]

Thanks to you, now I understand how finite state machine works.

[royceaquino]

A very clear and straight to the point video, thanks!

[raymondschenk]

This is an outstanding brief. VERY WELL DONE. Clear, superb examples.

[vrakitine]

When I was earning my master's degree, I heard a lot about finite state machines (FSMs), but it was all theory — like clouds in the sky: there's a lot of water, but you can't drink it. I toiled for three months after graduating until I implemented my first FSM in code in 1981. Now, there is a programming methodology based on this concept — v-agent oriented programming (VAOP) — with many examples of its implementation. It's best to start learning about VAOP with this article on Medium: "Bagels and Muffins of Programming or How Easy It Is to Convert a Bagel into a Black Hole".

[shyamkumarEE]

Best explanation I ever heard for this topic

[jsuswaram]

Brilliant! I got here after having a nightmare of a dream where I was presented a state machine in my Computer Engineering class and could not figure out what it was and my classmates understood it finished way ahead of me and me being the last one the professor yelling at me"what's taking so long dumba$$?" Now I am confident in can handle this in my dreams👍🏾🙌🏾🙏🏾

[raphaelsaragena]

Thank you, this video of yours is very helpful but I had a difficulty understanding the Mealy machine...