Development of a Non-Deterministic Finite Automaton with Epsilon Moves (E − NF A) Generator Using Thompson’s Construction Algorithm

Abstract

The study designed and developed a finite state machine generator which converts a regular expression to its equivalent non-deterministic finite automaton with -moves ( − NF A). It implements Thompson’s construction algorithm, an algorithm that works recursively by splitting an expression into its constituent subexpressions, from which the  − NF A will be constructed by a set of rules. The system accepts a valid regular expression and rejects an invalid one. The regular expression is then parsed and evaluated by a parse tree to be converted to its equivalent states. The states is then connected and generated as a whole to show the finite state machine. The finite state machine generator was implemented using the Java programming language with the JavaFX package to produce better quality and easy to use graphical interface. An online acceptability survey obtained a 3.96 (exceeded beyond expectation) acceptability rating.