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Regular languages key terms
Study Regular languages with curriculum-aligned Key Terms resources, practice links, and exam-focused support.
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key terms
Resource type
Topic
Regular languages
Key terms
State transition
The change from the current state to a next state caused by an input.
Mealy machine
A finite state machine with output, where the output is associated with the transition taken.
Proper subset
A set that is contained within another set, with at least one element in the larger set that is not in the smaller set. It is written using ⊂.
Countably infinite set
An infinite set whose elements can be counted off by the natural numbers.
Regular expression
A convenient shorthand way of describing a set of strings, or a regular language.
Alternation
The choice between alternatives in a regular expression, represented by the | metacharacter.
Regular language
A language that can be represented by a regular expression; equivalently, a language that an FSM will accept.
Finite state machine (FSM)
The machine referred to in the specification as accepting regular languages.
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