Illustrating Finite Automata with Grail+ and TikZ
Abstract
In this article, we discuss a new software tool that interacts with Grail+, a library of automata-theoretic command-line utilities. Our software, the Grail+ Visualizer, takes the textual representation of a finite automaton produced by Grail+ and generates TikZ code to illustrate the finite automaton, with automatic layout of states and transitions. In addition to giving an overview of the basics of automata theory and Grail+, we discuss how the Grail+ Visualizer works in detail and suggest avenues for future work.
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