Implementation and Application of Automata

TheSixthInternationalConferenceonImplementationandApplicationof- tomata(CIAA2001)—the?rstoneheldinthesouthernhemisphere—was heldattheUniversityofPretoriainPretoria,SouthAfrica,on23–25July2001. ThisvolumeofSpringer’sLectureNotesinComputerSciencecontainsall thepapers(includingtheinvitedtalkbyGregorv. Bochmann)thatwerep- sentedatCIAA2001,aswellasanexpandedversionofoneoftheposterpapers displayedduringtheconference. Theconferenceaddressedtheissuesinautomataapplicationandimplemen- tion. Thetopicsofthepaperspresentedinthisconferencerangedfromautomata applicationsinsoftwareengineering,naturallanguageandspeechrecognition, andimageprocessing,tonewrepresentationsandalgorithmsfore?cientimp- mentationofautomataandrelatedstructures. Automatatheoryisoneoftheoldestareasincomputerscience. Researchin automatatheoryhasbeenmotivatedbyitsapplicationssinceitsearlystagesof development.^ Inthe1960sand1970s,automataresearchwasmotivatedheavily byproblemsarisingfromcompilerconstruction,circuitdesign,stringmatching, etc. Inrecentyears,manynewapplicationsofautomatahavebeenfoundin variousareasofcomputerscienceaswellasinotherdisciplines. Examplesofthe newapplicationsincludestatechartsinobject-orientedmodeling,?n