Is using a FSM a good design for general text parsing?

Posted by eSKay on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by eSKay
Published on 2010-05-05T20:10:35Z Indexed on 2010/05/05 20:18 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 129

Filed under:

fsm

|

language-agnostic

|

algorithm

|

algorithm-design

|

Implementation

I am reading a file that is filled with hex numbers. I have to identify a particular pattern, say "aaad" (without quotes) from it. Every time I see the pattern, I generate some data to some other file.

This would be a very common case in designing programs - parsing and looking for a particular pattern.

I have designed it as a Finite State Machine and structured structured it in C using switch-case to change states. This was the first implementation that occured to me.

DESIGN: Are there some better designs possible?
IMPLEMENTATION: Do you see some problems with using a switch case as I mentioned?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about fsm

GameState management hierarchical FSM vs stack based FSM

as seen on Game Development - Search for 'Game Development'
I'm reading a bit on Finite State Machines to handle game states (or screens). I would like to build a rather decent FSM that can handle multiple screens. e.g. while the game is running I want to be able to pop-up an ingame menu and when that happens the main screen must stop updating (the game is… >>> More
Generic FSM for game in C++ ?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hello, I was wondering if there's a way I could code some kind of "generic" FSM for a game with C++?. My game has a component oriented design, so I use a FSM Component. my Finite State Machine (FSM) Component, looks more or less this way. class gecFSM : public gecBehaviour { public: //Constructors … >>> More
FSM spellchecker

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I would love to have a debugged copy of the finite state machine code below. I tried debugging but could not, all the machine has to do is to spell check the word "and",an equivalent program using case is welcomed. #include<cstdlib> #include<stdio.h> #include<string.h> #include<iostream> #include<string> using… >>> More
Combined states, FSM

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Not sure this is the right place to ask, but is it "correct" to combine states of an FSM? Say you have an object with enum State { State1 = 1 << 0, State2 = 1 << 1, State3 = 1 << 2 } ; It just so happens that it makes sense to combine states, as in State myState… >>> More
Implementing a FSM with ActionScript 2 without using classes?

as seen on Game Development - Search for 'Game Development'
I have seen several references of A.I. and FSM, but sadly I still can't understand the point of an FSM in AS2.0. Is it a must to create a class for each state? I have a game-project which also it has an A.I., the A.I. has 3 states: distanceCheck, ChaseTarget, and Hit the target. It's an FPS game… >>> More

Related posts about language-agnostic

Are there any language agnostic unit testing frameworks?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I have always been skeptical of rewriting working code - porting code is no exception to this. However, with the advent of TDD and automated testing it is much more reasonable to rewrite and refactor code. Does anyone know if there is a TDD tool that can be used for porting old code? Ideally you… >>> More
Language Agnostic Basic Programming Question

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
This is very basic question from programming point of view but as I am in learning phase, I thought I would better ask this question rather than having a misunderstanding or narrow knowledge about the topic. So do excuse me if somehow I mess it up. Question: Let's say I have class A,B,C and D… >>> More
Language-agnostic term for typed things that need memory

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Is there an accepted general term that subsumes the concepts of variables, class instances and arrays? Basically "any typed thing that needs memory". In C++, such a thing is called an object, but I'm looking for a more language-agnostic term. § 1.8 The C++ object model 1 The constructs in… >>> More
Deprecated Methods in Code Base

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
A lot of the code I've been working on recently, both professionally (read: at work) and in other spheres (read: at home, for friends/family/etc, or NOT FOR WORK), has been worked on, redesigned and re-implemented several times - where possible/required. This has been in an effort to make things smaller… >>> More
Coding Competition, language agnostic guidelines?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi there: I might be doing a coding competition soon, I was wondering if anyone made one and what where the guidelines/ process. I'd like to make the competition appealing to all devs, and I m trying to come up with ideas as to how. the scenario is: There is an event running and we(of the coding… >>> More