What is State Machine?
Imagine you're playing a video game where your character can do different things like walking, jumping, and sleeping. These different things your character can do are like "states" in a state machine.
A state machine is like a set of rules that decides what your character can do at any moment. Think of it as a big switchboard that controls your character's actions. Here are some simple rules for our game character:
Walking State: When your character is walking, it can either keep walking or switch to jumping if you press the jump button. But it can't go directly to sleeping from walking. That wouldn't make much sense, would it?
Jumping State: When your character is jumping, it can't just start sleeping in mid-air! It must first come back down and then it can decide to either start walking again or go to sleep.
Sleeping State: If your character is sleeping, it can wake up and start walking, but it can't suddenly start jumping from sleep.
Here's how we can think about it:
Walking 🚶 → Jumping 🏃♂️: Press the jump button.
Walking 🚶 → Sleeping 💤: Decide to take a rest.
Jumping 🏃♂️ → Walking 🚶: Land on the ground.
Sleeping 💤 → Walking 🚶: Wake up.
In programming, especially in game development, we use state machines to keep track of what a character or an object is doing at any moment. It helps us manage their actions and reactions in a very organized way. This way, we can make sure that our game character behaves logically and makes the game fun to play!
Remember, a state machine is just a fancy way of saying "keeping track of what's happening now, and deciding what can happen next." It's like a story where each action leads to the next! 🎮👾