Understanding State
Let’s talk about state, shall we? State is the collective properties of the system from one point in time. Think of it effectively as a snapshot of a system. State in computer science is actually a lot like state in physics, so let’s start with something that’s a bit easier to understand.
We’re going to examine a physical system: A ball dropping from my hand to the ground one meter (1m) below. The ball starts out at one point in time where it is at rest in my hand. It has no velocity, no motion. It has properties like color, texture, etc. that do not and will not change. The state of the ball can be thought of as a position of 1m off the ground, with a color, texture, etc., and no velocity. Each of these variables has a specific value at that point in time.