Can an object oriented program be seen as a Finite State Machine?

Posted by Peretz on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Peretz
Published on 2011-07-22T02:47:29Z Indexed on 2014/06/03 21:39 UTC
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This might be a philosophical/fundamental question, but I just want to clarify it.

In my understanding a Finite State Machine is a way of modeling a system in which the system's output will not only depend on the current inputs, but also the current state of the system. Additionally, as the name suggests it, a finite state machine can be segmented in a finite N number of states with its respective state and behavior.

If this is correct, shouldn't every single object with data and function members be a state in our object oriented model, making any object oriented design a finite state machine?

If that is not the interpretation of a FSM in object design, what exactly people mean when they implement a FSM in software? am I missing something?

Thanks

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