History
Automata-based techniques were used widely in the domains where there are algorithms based on automata theory, such as formal language analyses.
One of the early papers on this is by Johnson et al., 1968.
One of the earliest mentions of automata-based programming as a general technique is found in the paper by Peter Naur, 1963. The author calls the technique Turing machine approach, however no real Turing machine is given in the paper; instead, the technique based on states and steps is described.
Read more about this topic: Automata-based Programming