APOLOGIA

I wrote Automaton Simulator in 2001, when I was still relatively new to
Java programming.  When I posted it on my Web page, I quickly slapped
a restrictive license on the program, just because I didn't feel like
taking the time to study the issue of licensing more closely. I never
thought the program would be taken very seriously, anyway. My development
work then shifted to Logisim (www.cburch.com/logisim/), a much more ambitious
program for simulating digital circuits.

In the meantime, this project lay untouched, though server logs reveal
that it continues to be downloaded fairly frequently. In late 2006, at
the prompting of a couple of e-mails requesting source code access, and
on observing that clearly I'm not going develop this program myself
further, I decided that I might as well take a bit of time to release
the source. So this evening, I did some brief editing to repair the
easier-to-find stylistic problems from my early days with Java, and
I repackaged the program for open-source distribution.

The upshot of all this is twofold. First, I'm a bit embarrassed by my Java
mastery at the time I wrote this program, and my editing tonight has been
fairly cursory; the design is not the best. And second, if anybody wants
to take this project and run with it, I'd be happy to pass the torch on.

---Carl Burch, November 14, 2006

(By the way, I have the following notes from 2001 of features that I
thought would be nice to include in a subsequent version. Make of it
what you will.
  - rotate initial-state arrow
  - exporting GIFs
  - arrow keys working while working tape
  - justification and font menus on right-click of canvas label
I'd also add the obvious point that the program could use a more
compelling title....)