Difference between 'State' and 'State Machine'

[JoGo]

what is the difference between a State element and a State Machine element?

[«Midnight»]

Not too much from the outside.

To oversimplify a bit, the element is just that, the machine is one with internal state transitions. [That's probably enough for you to get the flavor. See the UML spec or any good book for a better picture of this. Note that the terminology has changed a bit since UML 1.x, so be prepared for some minor disconnects.]

[Oliver F.]

Not too much from the outside.

To oversimplify a bit, the element is just that, the machine is one with internal state transitions.

And to sum it up, a state machine element would be a state element inside a state machine (with the state element be the atomic element type).

Oliver
Just noticed how head scratching strange this definition is