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 href="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=space">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 href="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=discrete">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 state machine}. [href="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=Jargon File">Jargon File] (1996-10-13)
