Control table: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:04, 9 August 2025

Revision as of 11:08, 9 August 2025

Line 1:

{{Short description |Data table used to control program flow}}

{{Refimprove|date=February 2009}}

[[File:Control table.png|thumb|220px|ThisA simple control table that directs program flow according to the value of thea single input variablevalue. Each table entry holds a possible input value to be tested for equality (implied) and aan relevantassociated subroutine to perform in the action columninvoke. The name of the subroutine could be replaced by a relative subroutine number if pointers are not supported]]

A '''control table''' is a [[Array (data structure)|array]] of [[Record (computer science)|record]]s used to direct the [[control flow]] of a [[computer program]]. [[Software]] that uses a control table is said to be ''table-driven''.<ref>''Programs from decision tables'', Humby, E., 2007,Macdonald, 1973 ... Biggerstaff, Ted J. Englewood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice-Hall {{ISBN|0-444-19569-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dkl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/DataKinetics-Table-Driven-Design.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=17 May 2016 |archive-date=10 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610160908/http://www.dkl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/DataKinetics-Table-Driven-Design.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In some cases, control tables can be specific implementations of [[finite-state machine|finite-state-machine]]-based [[automata-based programming]]. If there are several hierarchical levels of control table they may behave in a manner equivalent to [[hierarchical state machine|UML state machine]]s.