The GAP 4 package `automata' ================================== Introduction ------------ This is release 1.13 of the package `automata'. The features of this package include - computing a rational expression for the language recognized by a finite automaton; - compute an automaton for the language given by a rational expression; - minimalize a finite automaton; - has some features (using the external program GraphViz) to visualize automata; There is a manual in the sub-directory 'doc' written using the GAP package gapdoc which describes the available functions in detail. The dvi, pdf, html versions of the manual are also available there. If you have used this package, please let us know by sending us an email. If you have found important features missing or if there is a bug, we would appreciate it very much if you send us an email. Manuel Delgado Steve Linton Contents -------- With this version you should have obtained the following files and directories: README this file EXAMPLES some examples doc the manual gap the GAP code init.g the file that initializes this package read.g the file that reads in the package PackageInfo.g information file for automatic processing version the version number Unpacking --------- You may get `automata' as a compressed tar archive (file name ends with .tar.gz). Use the appropriate command on your system to unpack the archive. On UNIX systems the compressed tar archive may be unpacked by tar xzf automata-.tar.gz or, if tar on your system does not understand the option z, by gunzip automata-.tar.gz tar xf automata-.tar which will in each case unpack the code into a directory 'automata' in the current directory. We assume that the current directory is the directory /usr/local/lib/gap4r4/pkg/. Installation ------------ You may have to start GAP with the -l option, for instance, gap -l "/usr/local/lib/gap4r4" Then try the following gap> LoadPackage( "automata" ); true gap> Good luck! If you use a LINUX system, you may have to, in order to save typing, write aliases: in the file `.bashrc' (or something equivalent, maybe with another syntax): alias gap='gap -l "/usr/local/lib/gap4r4;"' and in the file `.gaprc' LoadPackage( "automata" ); As a final step, GraphViz (http://www.graphviz.org/) should be installed and also a Postscript viewer like Evince (http://www.gnome.org/projects/evince/). ---------- In other systems, there are equivalent ways to do the same.