Languages, Automata, and Logic

Abstract

This paper is a survey on logical aspects of finite automata. Central points are the connection between finite automata and monadic second-order logic, the Ehrenfreucht-Fraisse technique in the context of formal language theory, finite automata on omega-words and their determinization, and a self-contained proof of the "Rabin Tree Theorem."Sections 5 and 6 contain material presented in a lecture series to the "Final Winter School of AMICS" (Palermo, February 1996). A modified version of the paper will be a chapter of the "Handbook of Formal Language Theory", edited by G. Rozenberg and A. Salomaa, to appear in Springer-Verlag.