What is the difference between state machine and workflow?

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Rohit Sharma picture Rohit Sharma · Jan 12, 2012 · Viewed 18.9k times · Source

I want to learn what is the difference between "State machine" and "workflow", and how is it any different from "State machine workflow"?

Answer

Jere picture Jere · Jan 13, 2012

Workflow and state machines are defined nicely on wikipedia.

I'm guessing you're getting the term State Machine Workflow from this page. .NET seems to support different ways of modeling workflows (which are just some defined steps in a complex human task). A state machine (which is a map of states with transitions between them) would allow loops as opposed to a sequential workflow, which precedes down different branches until done.

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