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Regarding the strained metaphor, the "virtual machine" is metaphorical, and it can be simply ignored because any possible implementation of a NFA is actually a
by HelloNurse 8y ago
Regarding the strained metaphor, the "virtual machine" is metaphorical, and it can be simply ignored because any possible implementation of a NFA is actually a DFA.
Proof: a finite amount of memory can be considered a DFA state and modifying that memory between consuming successive input symbols can be considered updating the state.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- saltcured 8y agoYes, I think "virtual machine" is too loaded of a term now and is just confusing the point? An NFA implementation can be "virtual" in the sense of "virtual memory" being virtual. It is a pretense of a practically unbounded set of states while really being bounded like any other practical implementation. It grows on demand and can handle many practical inputs while possibly hitting its implementation limits on a worst-case input.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]