state

storage, architecture, jargon, theory How something is; its

configuration, attributes, condition, or information content.

The state of a system is usually temporary (i.e. it changes

with time) and volatile (i.e. it will be lost or reset to some

initial state if the system is switched off).

A state may be considered to be a point in some space of all

possible states. A simple example is a light, which is either

on or off. A complex example is the electrical activation in

a human brain while solving a problem.

In computing and related fields, states, as in the light

example, are often modelled as being discrete (rather than

continuous) and the transition from one state to another is

considered to be instantaneous. Another (related) property of

a system is the number of possible states it may exhibit.

This may be finite or infinite. A common model for a system

with a finite number of discrete state is a finite statemachine.

[Jargon File]

(1996-10-13)