Discrete Events and Procedures

So far, the discussions have been limited to the behavior of systems based on continuous interactions, where feedback loops predominate. However, the discrete steps in a procedure that specify an ordered set of tasks are quite common in many systems. Baking a cake, a monkey gathering, and eating nuts, a mother conceiving and then giving birth to a baby follow certain sets of procedures. In industry, a lot of processes, such as manufacture of pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and beverages are largely based on sets of procedures. On the surface, procedures look quite simple, but they interact with the continuous functions, thus, affecting the behavior of systems in significant and interesting ways.