StateWORKS: The Book
Modeling Software with Finite State Machines: A Practical Approach
To make the state machines more popular and to destroy the legend that the classical concept of state machines is of limited practical use due to several complex problems, we wrote a book which provides an introduction to any person who is interested in learning the true power of this technology. The book consists of three parts:
The first part analyzes the current situation in software design as found in the majority of companies. It summarizes the evolution of software development methods since the beginning, shows the price we are paying for today's insufficiencies and defines the requirements for software design to be able to handle present and future problems.
The second part explains the importance of the state machine concept in the software design domain. All definitions and details required for successful behavior modeling are provided. This includes rules for designing a state machine as well as for composing a complex system of multiple state machines communicating with each other.
The intention of the third part of the book is to illustrate a practical implementation of the proposed concept which is the StateWORKS development and execution environment.
"Modeling Software with Finite State Machines:
A Practical Approach"
Wagner F., Schmuki R., Wagner T.,
Wolstenholme P.
Publication Date: May 16, 2006
ISBN: 0-8493-8086-3
Number of Pages: 392
CRC Press
This is the cover text provided by the publisher:
"Modeling Software with Finite State Machines: A Practical Approach explains how to apply finite state machines to software development. It provides a critical analysis of using finite state machines as a foundation for executable specifications to reduce software development effort and improve quality. It discusses the design of a state machine and of a system of state machines. It also presents a detailed analysis of development issues relating to behavior modeling with design examples and design rules for using finite state machines. This text demonstrates the implementation of these concepts using StateWORKS software and introduces the basic components of this software."
See also the the table of contents. An example of a chapter from part 1 of the book is also provided.
For the reader of the e-book
The book is also available in the form of an e-book. Unfortunately, the quality of the diagrams, especially the more complex ones, is not high so in an e-book they are difficult to read. To help you, we have put all the diagrams in the book in the figures.zip file which you can download. These figures have been made available with permission of the publisher.