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| 10 | |
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| 11 | <title>The Boost Statechart Library - Overview</title> |
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| 12 | </head> |
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| 13 | |
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| 14 | <body link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080"> |
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| 15 | <table border="0" cellpadding="7" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary= |
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| 16 | "header"> |
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| 17 | <tr> |
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| 18 | <td valign="top" width="300"> |
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| 19 | <h3><a href="../../../index.htm"><img alt="C++ Boost" src= |
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| 20 | "../../../boost.png" border="0" width="277" height="86"></a></h3> |
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| 21 | </td> |
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| 22 | |
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| 23 | <td valign="top"> |
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| 24 | <h1 align="center">The Boost Statechart Library</h1> |
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| 25 | |
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| 26 | <p align="center">(formerly known as boost::fsm)</p> |
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| 27 | |
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| 28 | <h2 align="center">Overview</h2> |
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| 29 | </td> |
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| 30 | </tr> |
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| 31 | </table> |
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| 32 | <hr> |
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| 33 | |
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| 34 | <h2>Contents</h2> |
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| 35 | |
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| 36 | <dl class="index"> |
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| 37 | <dt><a href="#Overview">Overview</a></dt> |
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| 38 | |
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| 39 | <dd><a href="#SupportedPlatforms">Supported platforms</a></dd> |
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| 40 | |
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| 41 | <dd><a href="#GettingStarted">Getting started</a></dd> |
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| 42 | |
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| 43 | <dd><a href="#Audience">Audience</a></dd> |
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| 44 | |
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| 45 | <dt> </dt> |
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| 46 | |
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| 47 | <dt><a href="tutorial.html">Tutorial</a> [pdf: <a href= |
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| 48 | "tutorial.pdf">English</a>, <a href= |
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| 49 | "http://prdownloads.sourceforge.jp/jyugem/7127/fsm-tutorial-jp.pdf">Japanese</a>]</dt> |
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| 50 | |
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| 51 | <dt><a href="uml_mapping.html">UML to Boost.Statechart mapping |
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| 52 | summary</a></dt> |
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| 53 | |
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| 54 | <dt><a href="faq.html">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)</a></dt> |
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| 55 | |
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| 56 | <dt><a href="configuration.html">Configuration</a></dt> |
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| 57 | |
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| 58 | <dt><a href="definitions.html">Definitions</a></dt> |
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| 59 | |
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| 60 | <dt><a href="reference.html">Reference</a> [pdf: <a href= |
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| 61 | "reference.pdf">English</a>]</dt> |
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| 62 | |
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| 63 | <dt><a href="rationale.html">Rationale</a> [pdf: <a href= |
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| 64 | "rationale.pdf">English</a>]</dt> |
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| 65 | |
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| 66 | <dt><a href="performance.html">Performance</a></dt> |
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| 67 | |
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| 68 | <dt><a href="acknowledgments.html">Acknowledgments</a></dt> |
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| 69 | |
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| 70 | <dt><a href="future_and_history.html#ToDoList">To-do list</a></dt> |
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| 71 | |
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| 72 | <dt><a href="future_and_history.html#ChangeHistory">Change |
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| 73 | history</a></dt> |
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| 74 | </dl> |
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| 75 | <hr> |
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| 76 | |
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| 77 | <h2><a name="Overview" id="Overview">Overview</a></h2> |
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| 78 | |
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| 79 | <p>Welcome to Boost.Statechart, a C++ library for finite state machines. |
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| 80 | Features include:</p> |
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| 81 | |
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| 82 | <ul> |
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| 83 | <li>Straightforward transformation from UML statechart to executable C++ |
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| 84 | code and vice versa. Currently, this needs to be done manually both ways |
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| 85 | but it should not be difficult to automate these tasks</li> |
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| 86 | |
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| 87 | <li>Comprehensive <a href= |
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| 88 | "http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?formal/03-03-01">UML semantics</a> |
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| 89 | support: |
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| 90 | |
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| 91 | <ul> |
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| 92 | <li>Hierarchical (composite, nested) states</li> |
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| 93 | |
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| 94 | <li>Orthogonal (concurrent) states</li> |
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| 95 | |
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| 96 | <li>Entry-, exit- and transition-actions</li> |
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| 97 | |
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| 98 | <li>Guards</li> |
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| 99 | |
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| 100 | <li>Shallow/deep history</li> |
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| 101 | |
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| 102 | <li>Event deferral</li> |
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| 103 | </ul> |
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| 104 | </li> |
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| 105 | |
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| 106 | <li>Error handling support</li> |
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| 107 | |
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| 108 | <li>Maximum type-safety</li> |
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| 109 | |
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| 110 | <li>Compile-time statechart validation</li> |
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| 111 | |
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| 112 | <li>Support for asynchronous state machines and multi-threading</li> |
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| 113 | |
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| 114 | <li>State-local storage</li> |
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| 115 | |
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| 116 | <li>Generic design allowing for the customization of memory management, |
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| 117 | error handling and threading</li> |
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| 118 | </ul> |
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| 119 | |
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| 120 | <h3><a name="SupportedPlatforms" id="SupportedPlatforms">Supported |
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| 121 | platforms</a></h3> |
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| 122 | |
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| 123 | <p>Whether and how Boost.Statechart will work on your platform is best |
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| 124 | determined on the <a href= |
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| 125 | "http://engineering.meta-comm.com/boost-regression/CVS-RC_1_34_0/developer/statechart.html"> |
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| 126 | status page</a>. If the cells in your compilers column are all green, the |
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| 127 | library should work as advertised. Cells of different color indicate |
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| 128 | possible problems; follow the links for details. Before employing the |
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| 129 | library I would also advise to run the tests (see <a href= |
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| 130 | "#GettingStarted">Getting started</a>) on your particular platform in all |
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| 131 | the modes (debug, release, etc.) that are later used during development |
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| 132 | (the status page shows debug mode results only). The closer the test |
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| 133 | compiler switches mirror the ones that are later used during development, |
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| 134 | the less likely are future surprises. An example of such a surprise is |
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| 135 | Intel 9.0 with MSVC 7.1 base toolset, where DllTestNormal and DllTestNative |
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| 136 | pass in debug mode but fail in release mode.</p> |
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| 137 | |
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| 138 | <h3><a name="GettingStarted" id="GettingStarted">Getting started</a></h3> |
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| 139 | |
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| 140 | <ol> |
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| 141 | <li>Follow the steps 1-4 described on the <a href= |
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| 142 | "../../../more/getting_started.html">Boost Getting Started Page</a>. |
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| 143 | Since Boost.Statechart is a header-only library, you should now know |
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| 144 | enough to compile the examples in the tutorial in your favorite |
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| 145 | environment (except PingPong which requires Boost.Thread binaries)</li> |
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| 146 | |
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| 147 | <li>Optional: If you want to compile the PingPong example or use <a href= |
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| 148 | "reference.html#ClassTemplatefifo_scheduler">fifo_scheduler<></a> |
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| 149 | in your project, you need to get hold of the Boost.Thread binaries and |
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| 150 | link against them, see steps 5-6 on the Boost Getting Started Page</li> |
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| 151 | |
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| 152 | <li>Optional: If you want to run the tests, you need to get the bjam |
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| 153 | executable, as described under step 5.2 on the Boost Getting Started |
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| 154 | Page. After doing so, bjam should be installed in your <code>PATH</code>. |
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| 155 | Open a command prompt and change the current directory to |
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| 156 | <code>boost_1_34_0/libs/statechart/test</code>. Type |
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| 157 | <pre> |
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| 158 | bjam --toolset=<i>your-toolset</i> |
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| 159 | </pre> |
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| 160 | |
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| 161 | <p>(where <code><i>your-toolset</i></code> is one of the names |
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| 162 | documented under step 5.2.2 on the Boost Getting Started Page) and hit |
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| 163 | CR. After the test run, failures (if any) are indicated at the end of |
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| 164 | the output, in the form of a "<code>...failed updating X |
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| 165 | targets...</code>" message. For some platforms certain failures are |
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| 166 | expected, see <a href="#SupportedPlatforms">Supported |
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| 167 | platforms</a>.</p> |
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| 168 | </li> |
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| 169 | </ol> |
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| 170 | |
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| 171 | <h3><a name="Audience" id="Audience">Audience</a></h3> |
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| 172 | |
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| 173 | <p>Throughout all Boost.Statechart documentation it is assumed that the |
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| 174 | reader is familiar with the state machine concept, UML statecharts and most |
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| 175 | of the UML state machine terminology. The following links might be |
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| 176 | interesting if this is not the case:</p> |
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| 177 | |
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| 178 | <ul> |
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| 179 | <li><a href= |
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| 180 | "http://www.objectmentor.com/resources/articles/umlfsm.pdf">http://www.objectmentor.com/resources/articles/umlfsm.pdf</a> |
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| 181 | introduces state machines and UML statecharts</li> |
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| 182 | |
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| 183 | <li><a href= |
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| 184 | "http://www.sts.tu-harburg.de/teaching/ws-99.00/OOA+D/StateDiagrams.pdf">http://www.sts.tu-harburg.de/teaching/ws-99.00/OOA+D/StateDiagrams.pdf</a> |
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| 185 | explains most of the UML statechart elements and terminology</li> |
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| 186 | |
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| 187 | <li>The inventor of statecharts, David Harel, presents a thorough but |
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| 188 | still very readable discussion in his original paper: : <a href= |
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| 189 | "http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~dharel/SCANNED.PAPERS/Statecharts.pdf"> |
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| 190 | http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~dharel/SCANNED.PAPERS/Statecharts.pdf</a></li> |
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| 191 | |
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| 192 | <li>The UML specifications (formal) can be found here: <a href= |
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| 193 | "http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?formal/03-03-01">http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?formal/03-03-01</a> |
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| 194 | (see chapters 2.12 and 3.74)</li> |
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| 195 | </ul> |
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| 196 | |
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| 197 | <p>Some of the used terminology cannot be found in the UML specifications, |
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| 198 | please see <a href="definitions.html">Definitions</a> for more |
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| 199 | information.</p> |
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| 200 | <hr> |
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| 201 | |
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| 202 | <p><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer"><img border="0" src= |
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| 203 | "http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-html401" alt="Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional" |
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| 204 | height="31" width="88"></a></p> |
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| 205 | |
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| 206 | <p>Revised |
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| 207 | <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED" s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->09 April, 2007<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="30014" --></p> |
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| 208 | |
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| 209 | <p><i>Copyright © 2003-<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED" s-format="%Y" startspan -->2007<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="778" --> |
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| 210 | <a href="contact.html">Andreas Huber Dönni</a></i></p> |
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| 211 | |
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| 212 | <p><i>Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See |
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| 213 | accompanying file <a href="../../../LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a> or |
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| 214 | copy at <a href= |
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| 215 | "http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)</i></p> |
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| 216 | </body> |
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| 217 | </html> |
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