  The transformation of a nondeterministic finite-state automaton into a
deterministic finite-state automaton is an integral part of any course on
formal languages and automata theory. For some students, understanding this
transformation is challenging. Common problems encountered include not
comprehending how the states of the deterministic finite-state automaton are
determined and not comprehending the role that all the edges of the
nondeterministic finite-state automaton have in the deterministic finite-state
automaton's construction. To aid students in understanding, transformation
visualization tools have been developed. Although useful in helping students,
these tools do not properly illustrate the relationship between the states of
the deterministic finite-state automaton and the edges of the nondeterministic
finite-state automaton. This article presents a novel interactive visualization
tool to illustrate the transformation that highlights this relationship and
that is integrated into the FSM programming language. In addition, the
implementation of the visualization is sketched.
