JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 8(2): 363-367, doi: 10.3217/jucs-008-02-0363
A Fast and Simple Algorithm for Constructing Minimal Acyclic Deterministic Finite Automata
Bruce W. Watson‡‡ Software Construction Research Group, Department of Computer Science, Technological University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands; Department of Computer Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa; FST Labs & Ribbit Software Systems Inc.
Corresponding author: Bruce Watson ( watson@win.tue.nl ) Citation:
Watson BW (2002) A Fast and Simple Algorithm for Constructing Minimal Acyclic Deterministic Finite Automata. JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 8(2): 363-367. https://doi.org/10.3217/jucs-008-02-0363 |  |
Abstract
In this paper, we present a fast and simple algorithm for constructing a minimal acyclic deterministic finite automaton from a denite set of words. Such automata are useful in a wide variety of applications, including computer virus detection, computational linguistics and computational genetics. There are several known algorithms that solve the same problem, though most of the alternative algorithms are considerably more difficult to present, understand and implement than the one given here. Preliminary benchmarking indicates that the algorithm presented here is competitive with the other known algorithms. 1.) C. S. Calude, K. Salomaa, S. Yu (eds.). Advances and Trends in Automata and Formal Languages. A Collection of Papers in Honour of the 60th Birthday of Helmut Jürgensen.
Keywords
minimal acyclic deterministic finite automata, automata construction algorithms