An object-oriented language system for implementing concurrent, hierarchical, finite state machines

State-transition diagrams (STDs), and their underlying finite-state machines (FSMs), are used in many computing and electronic applications including operating-systems, graphical user-interfaces, microwave ovens, and telephone switching systems. All of these are reactive systems. The use of STDs and FSMs, however, does not scale well with system size. Statecharts are a graphical notation to represent complex reactive systems naturally and addresses the scaling problem Concurrent, hierarchical, finite state machines (CHSMs) are a realization of statecharts. To develop models of reactive systems, software can be written to implement CHSMs providing a hybrid language system where an existing programming language is augmented with additional constructs. This approach, also taken by systems such as lex and yacc, allows all the power of the host language to be used without "reinventing the wheel," requires the user to learn only the additional constructs, and integrates seamlessly with other programs or modules written in the host language. The development of such a language system is the focus of this thesis.