gun

Sranan Tongo: gon

From Middle English gunne, gonne, possibly from Gunnhild, a female given name formerly used as a nickname for engines of war. The name is composed of the Norse elements gunnr and hildr, both meaning "battle".

is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me

you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone

The glider gun on the bottom of the NOT circuit emits a continuous stream of gliders, while the data stream source emits a glider only when there is a value of 1 in the stream[…].

2000, Gary William Flake, The computational beauty of nature:

It would be especially interesting if someone can find an "airplane gun", which generates airplanes at regular intervals.

2007 February 23, Frank, “Life on the Edge”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Greene's period-416 2c/5 spaceship gun

2010, Andrew Adamatzky, Game of Life Cellular Automata, page 74:

(cellular automata) A pattern that "fires" out other patterns.


CA

en-noun

CA (countable and uncountable, plural CAs)

BTW: Of course the rules were parametrised, so any totalistic 2-dimensional 9-neighbourhood CA could be run.

1989 March 21, Mark Kramer, “Fast LIFE (was: Re: summing 9-cell neighborhoods)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The new CA is a modification of Fredkin's earlier SALT architecture in which every cell is identified as either even or odd - as in sodium and chlorine in a salt crystal hence the name. The state of each cell is either up or down and the development rule simple takes account of states of odd and even neighbours. The up-date at each time step simply takes the form of a swap of the states of diagonally related cells. SALT CAs are reversible and capable of universal computation and are conjectured to be capable of universal construction in the sense of Von Neumann.

2012 July 3, Mike James, “A New Computational Universe - Fredkin's SALT CA”, in www.i-programmer.info, retrieved 2012-10-25:

I assume we are speaking of a single rule CA (one rule for every cell).

2013 October 31, Shawn LeGrand, “Question about one-dimensional cellular automaton with a finite number of cells”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

cellular automaton
cellular automaton#English

(cellular automata) Initialism of cellular automaton.


grammar

grammar (countable and uncountable, plural grammars)

grammars (plural)
grammary (alternative archaic)
grammer (alternative obsolete)

/ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/

From Middle English gramere, from Old French gramaire (“classical learning”), from unattested Vulgar Latin *grammāria, an alteration of Latin grammatica, from Ancient Greek γραμματική (grammatikḗ, “skilled in writing”), from γράμμα (grámma, “line of writing”), from γράφω (gráphō, “write”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to carve, scratch”). Displaced native Old English stæfcræft; a doublet of glamour, glamoury, gramarye, and grimoire. Piecewise doublet of grammatic.

grammatika

rules for speaking and writing a language

قَوَاعِد

in computing: formal system specifying the syntax of a language

Hickerson has a computer program which found a spaceship with speed c/3. In fact a whole grammar of them.

1991 April 4, Bill Gosper, “LIFELINE:in search of the newsletter”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Within a few hours of finding the first period 2 ship, Dean had discovered a grammar for constructing an infinite number of different short, wide, period 2 spaceships. A grammar is an "alphabet" of "components", along with rules for the possible sequences of connections between components. Components are simply the identifiable pieces of a ship which reappear over and over in different ships in different combinations.

1992 August 27, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 2a)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Dean's discovery included a much more plentiful family than just the light, medium, and heavy weight spaceships that have been known since the beginning, which he was able to organize into a series of tiles and a grammar for them.

1994 January 21, Harold McIntosh, “de Bruijn diagrams”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A set of component patterns, along with the rules for connecting them, which can be combined to form more complex patterns such as large still lifes, oscillators, and spaceships.


rake

From Middle English rake [and other forms], from Old English raca, racu, ræce (“tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake”), from Proto-Germanic *rakō, *rekô (“tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, right oneself”).
Cognates
The English word is cognate with Danish rage (chiefly regional), Middle Dutch rāke, rēke (modern Dutch raak, reek (both regional), riek (“pitchfork, rake”)), Middle Low German rāke, racke (modern German Low German Raak (“rake; poker”)), Old High German rehho, rech (Middle High German reche, modern German Rechen (“rake”)), Old Norse reka (“shovel”) (modern Icelandic reka (“shovel”)), Old Saxon recho, Old Swedish raka (modern Swedish raka (“rake; (long) straight section of a road”)).

cog

I've been dealing primarily with rake and spaceship interactions for ease of experimentation (a rake will invariably escape before being eaten by even its most hellish progeny, and a spaceship is easy to redraw on the spot).

1991 January 10, Paul Callahan, “Questions and comments about Conway's Life (long)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

That would mean building rake guns or glider gun arrays to construct moving walls.

2003 August 19, Ilmari Karonen, “Inquiries about Conway's game of life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The switch engine is unstable but a number of them working in combination can form stable puffers, spaceships and rakes.

2015, Paul Rendell, Turing Machine Universality of the Game of Life, page 133:

(cellular automata) A type of puffer train that leaves behind a stream of spaceships as it moves.


boat

Belizean Creole: boat

→ Esperanto: boato

→ Dhivehi: ބޯޓު (bōṭu)

→ Fijian: boto

→ Hijazi Arabic: بوت (bōt)

→ Japanese: ボート (bōto)

→ Malay: bot

→ Pitcairn-Norfolk: boet (Norfuk)

→ Sinhalese: බෝට්ටුව (bōṭṭuwa)

→ Swahili: boti

→ Scots: boat, bote (compare native bait, bate)

→ Tahitian: poti

Tok Pisin: bot

From Middle English bot, boot, boet, boyt (“boat”), from Old English bāt (“boat”), from Proto-West Germanic *bait, from Proto-Germanic *baitaz, *baitą (“boat, small ship”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to break, split”). Cognate with Old Norse beit (“boat”), Middle Dutch beitel (“little boat”).
Old Norse bátr (whence Icelandic bátur, Norwegian båt, Danish båd), Dutch boot, German Boot, Occitan batèl and French bateau are all ultimately borrowings from the Old English word.

der

It creates 4 blocks, a boat, and a glider every 768 generations.

1994 May 7, David Bell, “HighLife - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 1/3)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The program is represented as a string of boats (1s) and blocks (0s).

2004 May 24, Paul Chapman, “A Prototype Programmable Universal Constructor for Conway's Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

For many stable patterns, by the way, there are other input glider lanes where the gliders are caught and turned into boats, which are then cleanly deleted by another glider coming in on the same lane.

2005 February 23, Dave Greene, “exist glider gun able of reconstruction in Life?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) In Conway’s Game of Life, a particular still life consisting of a dead cell surrounded by five living cells.


cell

From Middle English celle, selle, from Old English cell (attested in inflected forms), from Latin cella (“chamber, small room, compartment”), later reinforced by Old French cel, sele, Old French cele. ultimately from Proto-Italic *kelnā, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelneh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”). Doublet of cella and hall.

intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell

melanopsin-containing retinal ganglion cell

The upper right cell always starts with the color green.

Basically, I'm looking for a fast (the fastest?) way of updating grids, where each cell has to look at an arbitrary number of its neighbors.

1988 January 26, David Hiebeler, “Fast way to update grids”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

It is used for land-use change simulations, where the content of the cells surrounding a central cell defines how this cell is going to evolve (for example, a cell that is "agriculture" but has 3 urban neighbors will likely become urban, while if it is surrounded by forest or other agriculture cells, it will remain agriculture.)

2010 March 10, Jean H., “What is CA for?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

I've seen this space colloqually referred to as MAP (presumably since it maps a 3x3 neighborhood into a future cell state)

2022 February 11, Mateon1, “Game of Life with real 8 neighbors”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) The minimal unit of a cellular automaton that can change state and has an associated behavior.


spaceship

spaceships (plural)
space ship (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-spaceship.wav

* space + ship
* (programming operator): From its resemblance to the shape of a flying saucer.

The spaceships look like a row of threshers harvesting a field of wheat; the thickness in the direction of motion is only about 10 cells.

1989 October 26, Richard Schroeppel, “Some recent Life results”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

We describe software that searches for spaceships in Conway's Game of Life and related two-dimensional cellular automata.

2002, Richard Nowakowski, More Games of No Chance, page 433:

Synthesis of spaceship flotillas is even more complicated than synthesis of oscillators, since spaceships are like oscillators that move[…]

2010, Andrew Adamatzky, Game of Life Cellular Automata, page 126:

(cellular automata) A finite pattern that reappears after a certain number of generations in the same orientation but in a different position.


generation

en-noun

generation (countable and uncountable, plural generations)

/ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/

Inherited from Middle English generacioun, from Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin generātiō, from generāre (“to beget, generate”). By surface analysis, generate + -ion.

inh+

It runs for 17331 generations before stabilizing as 136 blinkers, 109 blocks, 65 beehives, 18 loaves, 18 boats, 7 ships, 4 tubs, 3 ponds, 2 toads, and 40 gliders.

1989 November 20, Dean Hickerson, “Life: glider gun origin”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The glider is fast--it moves 2 cells every 3 generations. There is also a spinning thing (sixty degrees every 21 generations)

1999 June 15, hexatron, “A new hexagonal CA with a new glider”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

In B37/S23, it goes symmetrical after 10 ticks, and produces a familiar pair of B-heptominoes after 23 ticks (the next generation after this can be found in the rotor of a standard B3/S23 p46 oscillator):

2008 June 25, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A single iteration of a cellular automaton rule on a pattern.


ship

→ Japanese: シップ (shippu)

From Middle English ship, schip, from Old English sċip, from Proto-West Germanic *skip, from Proto-Germanic *skipą, from Proto-Indo-European *skēyb-, *skib-. More at shift.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian skip, Dutch schip, German Schiff, Yiddish שיף (shif), Danish skib, Norwegian skip, Swedish skepp. Related also to Lithuanian skiẽbti (“to rip up”), Latvian škibît (“to cut, lop”), Ancient Greek σκάφη (skáphē, “light boat, skiff”).

cog

it's not the size of the ship, it's the motion of the ocean

I don't know if there is another standard method, but the following approach works: Consider the collision of gliders from three rakes that produces a medium spaceship in the _same_ direction as the rake. This ship will follow along to the next collision point, which will not produce a spaceship, but rather some stable garbage, consisting of a block and a beehive.

Aside from the one ship in B3/S124 shown above, the only spaceships of this size (with period up to 20) in any of these rules are the Life glider and the three known from B2/ (each of which also is found in some variants of the Life or B2/ rules).

1995 November 12, Rich Holmes, “Totalistic spaceships”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

While constructing a butterfly double gun I put one cell at the wrong site and the result was highly surprising: my pattern turned to a big, beautiful ship, very similar to those found in Aqua25 from Al Hensel's collection!

1999 June 23, Mirek Wojtowicz, “What else has Brian in his Brain?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata, chiefly in combination) A spaceship.

But there are no ships, and no natural traffic lights or honey farms. The ship self destructs, and the predecessors to the traffic lights and honey farms self-destruct in spectacular manners.

In the case of these "ship" neighborhoods, birth will occur at the center cell, thus deviating from the "overcrowding" rule of Life (HighLife allows such a birth in all neighborhoods containing 6 cells).

1994 June 5, Paul Callahan, “Interesting life program”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A particular still life consisting of an empty cell surrounded by six live cells.


beehive

beehives (plural)
bee-hive (alternative)

From Middle English beehyve, equivalent to bee + hive.

By the way, what happens to a beehive which is under attack by one or two gliders such as pictured:

1989 December 22, Norbert Roestel, “CA-LETTER”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Alternatively, in many cases the debris can be suppressed by perturbing the debris with a passing spaceship before it stabilizes into the beehive or loaf.

1992 October 22, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 6a)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Unfortunately, a beehive (a common six cell still life) was also created close to the block, and its position made it impossible to eliminate with conventional methods using still lifes (anything placed to destroy it would be damaged by earlier activity).

1996 November 16, Paul Callahan, “Still-life glider reflector found”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) In Conway's Game of Life, a particular still life pattern with a rounded appearance.


eater

From Middle English eter, etere, etter, from Old English etere; equivalent to eat + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (patient suffix) (food suitable for eating).

But there are many queen bee configurations in which the debris is neutralized, including placement of a block or eater near the bee's turnaround point, or placing two queen bees in a line or at right angles in various positions and phases.

1989 October 31, Scott Huddleston, “life: glider guns”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The eater can also destroy a snail, but changes its phase while doing so.

1997 November 30, David Bell, “Day & Night - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 2/5)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Probably even if it didn't fail catastrophically, any design like this would get stuck in an infinite loop pretty quick, upon hitting its first "cleaner-proof" ash -- an eater pattern that happens to absorb the test reaction without itself being altered.

2009 January 13, Dave Greene, “Ash”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A configuration of cells that appears to consume another configuration by gradually causing it to disappear.


pattern

From earlier patten, paterne, from Middle English patron (“patron; example”), from Old French patron, from Medieval Latin patrōnus (“patron”). Doublet of padrone, patron, Patronus, and patroon.

skemo

intelligible arrangement which has a mathematical, geometric, statistical etc. relationship

For example, at one point it claims that in order to view a pattern capable of reproduction and evolution, one would need a computer with a screen the size of the solar system, and the pattern would be so sparse anyway as to be almost unobservable.

1989 May 6, Alan Hensel, “Looking for Life Newsletter”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The state of the pattern after 1.25 * 10^12 generations is here:

2010 March 20, Adam Goucher, “What is CA for?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The isotropy means all patterns behave the same regardless of orientation in space, they can be flipped or rotated without changing their behavior.

2022 February 11, Mateon1, “Game of Life with real 8 neighbors”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A configuration of cells in a cellular automaton universe.


glider

From Middle English glider, glydare, equivalent to glide + -er.

I believe it is indeed new -- I've gone back through everything I can find, as far back as the early 90's when Heisenburp devices were first invented, and there don't seem to be any reactions based on a glider suppressing a blinker.

2006 September 28, Dave Greene, “Small Heisenburp device in Conway's Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

In Conway's Life interesting effects can be obtained by colliding gliders.

2008, Derek Abbott, Paul C. W. Davies, Arun Kumar Pati, Quantum Aspects Of Life, page 246:

(cellular automata) In the Game of Life, a particular configuration of five cells that recurs periodically at fixed offsets and appears to "walk" across the grid.

It is a reversible rule, and an interesting one. Shortly after I implemented it, Chris and I were watching it run from a small random configuration of vants, when we noticed a structure consisting of 2 vants propagating away from the others -- it is a glider of sorts, consisting of 2 cooperating vants moving along, erasing each others' trail.

1989 June 11, David Hiebeler, comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

I wanted to test some totalistic automaton and the glider with the B024S1 rule, which Ilmari Karonen described.

2003 May 13, Frank Buss, “Totalistic Explorer and squirm”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

By contrast, consider a rule like Seeds (B2/S) that has "gliders" and oscillators and so forth, so theoretically it might support universal computation somehow.

2007 May 12, Dave Greene, “Wanted: 2D CA, "as complex" but "denser" than Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(by extension) Any spaceship in a cellular automaton, especially one which exhibits glide reflection.


breeder

From breed + -er. Cognate with West Frisian brieder (“one who breeds, breeder”), Dutch broeier (“brooder, vagrant”).

cog

I was wondering if anyone out there could mail me a base for MIT's 'breeder' - the one with 8? puffer trains forming glider-guns. I've seen in in a few books but can't seem to get it working ...

1992 June 17, Bill Sharp, comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

I later implemented an improved version of the algorithms on an Atari STe, this time the goal was to run the breeder, which it did at 2 gen/sec at the stage when the first glider gun has been assembled.

2002 July 23, Owen Rees, “Wolfram and "general 2D simulators"”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

A glider-emitting breeder pattern can probably also be constructed in this rule, which would out-radiate any chaotic pattern by a considerable margin.

2008 May 31, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A pattern that exhibits quadratic growth by generating multiple copies of a secondary pattern, each of which then generates multiple copies of a tertiary pattern.


block

→ Dutch: block

→ German: Block

→ Irish: bloc

→ Manx: block

→ Maori: poraka

→ Norwegian: blokk

→ Polish: blok

desctree

→ Russian: блок (blok)
→ Armenian: բլոկ (blok)
→ Yakut: блок (blok)

→ Spanish: block

→ Vietnamese: lốc

From Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse bǫlkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc, bulk.

طَابُوقَة

substantial often approximately cuboid piece

թաղամաս

group of buildings demarcated by streets

Perhaps the simplest puffer known is the following period 20 puffer based on the period 20 spaceship, which creates blocks.

1997 November 30, David Bell, “Day & Night - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 5/5)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Blocks have a couple of unusual properties: they are cleanly destroyed by an incoming glider on any one of six adjacent paths, and none of the possible collisions include any output gliders, so you can't get chain reactions.

2005 February 23, Dave Greene, “exist glider gun able of reconstruction in Life?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.

(cellular automata) In Conway's Game of Life, a still life consisting of four living cells arranged in a two-by-two square.

блок

residential building consisting of flats


population

Borrowed from Late Latin populatio (“a people, multitude”), as if a noun of action from Classical Latin populus, equivalent to populate + -ion. Doublet of poblacion.

bor+

invånarantal (often expressed as "har X invånare" instead)

This is one of several known "sawtooth" patterns, in which the population is unbounded but does not tend to infinity.

1996 December 16, Dean Hickerson, “What is his name ?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Since unoccupied cells never send a message they never access their neighbors and so if the population of the arena is, say, 20% of the total area then 80% of time no neighbor cells need to be accessed at all leading 1/9th as many array accesses and computation speeds up to 9 times faster per generation.

2003 February 28, fiziwig, “Fast GOL alogrithm that doesn't examine neighbors.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

End population was 101,764 cells, but with some significant spikes and drops along the way.

A count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary such as a town, a nation or the world.

(cellular automata) The number of living cells in a pattern.


neighborhood

en-noun

neighborhood (countable and uncountable, plural neighborhoods)

neighborhoods (plural)
neighbourhood (alternative UK)

From an alteration of earlier neighborred (“neighborhood”), from Middle English neȝeburredde, neheborreden, equivalent to neighbor + -red; the term being interpreted as neighbor + -hood. For change in suffix (-red to -hood), compare brotherhood.
Cognates
Dutch nabijheid (common in modern language), Dutch naburigheid (uncommon in modern language).

veïnat

topology: set containing an open set which contains some specified point

vizinhança

topology: set containing an open ball which contains a specified point

In fact, it looks at the number of states and the neighborhood of the rule (determined by the filename), and decides whether to make it a lookup-table, or a "computed-function" rule.

1990 July 9, David Hiebeler, “Languages for programming cellular automata”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Universal: Is able to simulate other CA, the neighborhood size may be limited but the number of cell value should be unlimited (big neighborhoods can be transformed into multivalued cells).

2005 September 7, IzI, “reversible universal 1D CA?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

I've seen this space colloqually referred to as MAP (presumably since it maps a 3x3 neighborhood into a future cell state), or more precisely and if you want to be pedantic, since there are a lot of variants of cellular automata: 2D Range-1 Moore neighborhood 2-state (non-totalistic) cellular automata (regular euclidean grid implied, although some people explore toroidal configurations, nonstandard tilings, or arbitrary graphs).

(graph theory) The set of all the vertices adjacent to a given vertex.

(cellular automata) The set of all cells near a given cell used to determine that cell's state in the next generation.


loaf

→ Bengali: লোফ (lōph)

→ Marshallese: ļoob

→ Norwegian Bokmål: loff

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: loff

→ Scottish Gaelic: lofa

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz
Proto-West Germanic *hlaib
Old English hlāf
Middle English lof
English loaf
* From Middle English lof, laf, from Old English hlāf (“bread, loaf of bread”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlaib, from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz (“bread, loaf”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Old English hlifian (“to stand out prominently, tower up”). Cognate with Scots laif (“loaf”), German Laib (“loaf”), Swedish lev (“loaf”), Russian хлеб (xleb, “bread, loaf”), Polish chleb (“bread”); as a borrowing, Finnish leipä (“bread”), Estonian leib (“black bread”). Doublet of chleb and khleb.
* (brain or head): Rhyming slang, ellipsis of loaf of bread.

cog

It runs for 17331 generations before stabilizing as 136 blinkers, 109 blocks, 65 beehives, 18 loaves, 18 boats, 7 ships, 4 tubs, 3 ponds, 2 toads, and 40 gliders.

1989 November 20, Dean Hickerson, “Life: glider gun origin”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Running a LWSS into it can produce various debris. One of these reactions produces a loaf. When the loaf is properly hit with other LWSSs, it can be pulled backwards.

1992 September 10, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 3b)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

I am looking for the smallest ancestor of the following four loaf pattern in Conway's Game of Life:

1998 January 27, Ian Osgood, “Life: looking for smallest ancestor of a quad-loaf”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A particular still life configuration with seven living cells.


spark

→ Esperanto: sparko

→ Japanese: スパーク

From Middle English sparke, sperke, from Old English spearca, from Proto-West Germanic *sparkō (compare Saterland Frisian Spoorke, West Frisian spark, Dutch spark, German Low German Sparke, German Sparke), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *sparkaz (“lively, energetic”), from Proto-Indo-European *sperg- (“to strew, sprinkle”) (compare Breton erc’h (“snow”), Latin spargō (“to scatter, spread”), sparsus (“scattered”), Lithuanian sprógti (“to germinate”), Ancient Greek σπαργάω (spargáō, “to swell”), Avestan 𐬟𐬭𐬀𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬈𐬔𐬀 (frasparega, “branch, twig”), Sanskrit पर्जन्य (parjanya, “rain, rain god”)).

cog

(cellular automata) A small collection of cells which briefly appears at the edge of a larger pattern before dying off.


rotor

From an irregular shortening of rotator. Doublet of rota and ruote.

The following figure shows examples of the most versatile class of these oscillators. The first emulates the p10 shown above; the second has period 62 and a rotor of size 10.

1997 November 30, David Bell, “Day & Night - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 2/5)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The problem of determining the asymptotic colouring for a cyclic pattern from a given initial black and white pattern is completely solved. The analysis leads to the proposal of the distinction between primary and secondary rotor cells (i.e. a refinement of the classical stator-rotor distinction).

1998 March 18, Gunnar Johnsson, “Genetic aspects of the Game of Life.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

In B37/S23, it goes symmetrical after 10 ticks, and produces a familiar pair of B-heptominoes after 23 ticks (the next generation after this can be found in the rotor of a standard B3/S23 p46 oscillator):

2008 June 25, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) The set of cells within an oscillator that switch between being alive and dead over the course of the oscillator's period.


explosive

en-adj

explosive (comparative more explosive, superlative most explosive)

more explosive (comparative)
most explosive (superlative)

From Latin explōs-, stem of the perfect passive participle of explōdō + the suffix -ive.

Notes: A rule set that (very probably) results in explosive growth; certainly in area if not population.

1992 June 2, Dave Boll, “Variations on Conway's LIFE”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

For example, putting a 1 at (0: 1,1) will cause explosive growth in all directions, putting a 1 at (0: 0,2A) will cause pairs of diagonal cells in a 2x2 square to alternate on and off, putting a 1 at (1: 4,4) will cause all solid 1 areas to stay 1 for another cycle, etc.

1994 April 4, Robert Andreen, “CA rules”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

If the rule is further chosen so that active cells can (and must) expand on an inactive background but inactive cells can't do so on an active background (or vice versa), then non-explosive growth becomes possible.

2003 May 12, Ilmari Karonen, “Gliders in 4-neighbor semitotalistic 2D cellular automata”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

en:like an explosion, e.g., of a fast fire

(cellular automata) Of a specific cellular automaton rule, tending to exhibit infinite and unpredictable growth when starting from finite random patterns.


blinker

нагла́зник m usually plural: нагла́зники

The following for example, doesn't work because the spark at the top is actually a blinker, and doesn't die. Without the blinker, this object is known as an OWSS (overweight spaceship).

1992 August 13, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 1)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

3 live cells together can yield either a blinker or a block, so these will be the most common objects formed "out of the void".

1994 May 13, Louis Howell, “Louis Howell's question of block clearing in life (simple solution)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

As Hickerson points out, a glider aimed at a faraway blinker or preblock has only 8 cells, but can be arranged to run as long as you want.

2008 January 8, Dave Greene, “Evolutionary factor in Conway's life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) In Conway's Game of Life, an arrangement of three cells in a row that switches between horizontal and vertical orientations in each generation.


spacefiller

Spacefiller patterns might possibly even be within reach of current search programs; these would have much more predictable (and higher) growth rates from the start.

2008 May 31, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Other things that can be built (I see no reason why not) are a self-replicator, quadratically growing spacefiller, programmable computer/constructor, self-growing prime number sieve.

2009 December 16, Mark Jeronimus, “WireWorld Extendable 3”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A pattern that grows quadratically by filling space with still life.


oscillator

He has turned up a number of new oscillators of periods 2,3,4,5,6, & 8.

1989 October 26, Richard Schroeppel, “Some recent Life results”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Two track segments, each of which realizes the same transformation in a different number of generations are particularly useful for obtaining oscillator periods.

1996 December 16, Paul Callahan, “Need help in finding topic for research project”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Synthesis of spaceship flotillas is even more complicated than synthesis of oscillators, since spaceships are like oscillators that move[…]

2010, Andrew Adamatzky, Game of Life Cellular Automata, page 126:

(cellular automata) A pattern that returns to its original state, in the same orientation and position, after a finite number of generations.


Life

Basically, I'm looking for a fast (the fastest?) way of updating grids, where each cell has to look at an arbitrary number of its neighbors. I've seen some fast life-programs, but often they took advantage of particular quirks of the rules of Life.

1988 January 26, David Hiebeler, “Fast way to update grids”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Is there a known 3D totalistic or semi-totalistic automaton (Life is the latter sort - state at time t+1 depends on state at time t and count of neighbours) which exhibits the same sort of behaviour as Life (that is, a reasonable range of naturally-occuring^([sic]) still lives and short-period oscillators)?

1999 May 13, Thomas Womack, “3D automata with Life-style objects”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Maybe the RolfLife algorithm could be of value to someone implementing life i.e. in the vertex shader of a (DirectX 9) graphics card, where few lines of code and no LUT are favoured.

2003 February 20, Rolf Wilms, “Fast implementation of core algorithm for Conway's Game of Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) Conway's Game of Life.


still life

en-noun

still life (plural still lifes or still lives)

still lifes (plural)
still lives (plural)
still-life (alternative)

I think you're talking about a configuration known as "eater," a still life in 6-8 cells. If the glider hits the right spot, the eater will form a bridge and destroy the glider while undergoing little change before reverting.

1992 May 5, Holocaust-->Travesty, “the Hodge Podge machine”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Thus, a natural question, apparently proposed very early, was whether there exists a still life (i.e. period 1 oscillator) that reflects a glider.

1996 November 16, Paul Callahan, “Still-life glider reflector found”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

I haven't tested yet, but I expect hlife to win by a very large margin since the puffer train has lots of still life and blinkers to make Gosper's algorithm look good, and hlife's low-level implementation is quite good at handling the more random parts.

2003 December 12, Tony Finch, “Implementing Conway's Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata, usually countable) A pattern that does not change from one generation to the next.


puffer

From puff + -er.
The cellular automata definition is a clipping of puffer train.

This is the next best thing, which is a pseudo-puffer made by converting a stream of spaceships into puffer output using several c/3 spaceships.

1993 March 16, David Bell, “Life program (part 2/18)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Might be interesting to see if the debris from this puffer can be suppressed somehow -- assuming somebody hasn't already done that, but I don't see any sign of previous attempts.

2008 June 25, Dave Greene, “B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The switch engine is unstable but a number of them working in combination can form stable puffers, spaceships and rakes.

2015, Paul Rendell, Turing Machine Universality of the Game of Life, page 133:

(cellular automata) A finite pattern that moves like a spaceship but leaves a trail of debris.


reflector

reflectors (plural)
reflecter (alternative)

(cellular automata) A pattern which can change the direction and/or offset of an oncoming spaceship without being destroyed.


cellular automaton

cellular automaton (plural cellular automata or cellular automatons)

cellular automata (plural)
cellular automatons (plural)

Or maybe just taking some precautions when setting up the division scheme for a particular cellular automaton might be good enough in other cases, depending on how dynamic and non-homogeneous the behavior over the grid will be.

1989 March 21, Dave Hiebeler, “Fast LIFE (was: Re: summing 9-cell neighborhoods)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

For fixed n this is, of course, a cellular automaton. You can allow any positive integer states for each of the n cells. The transition rule is such that if a cell has state x >=2 then the state never exceeds x and if it has state x < 2 then it either stays the same or increase by 1 or 2.

2003 October 8, Edwin Clark, “a puzzle related to artinian group”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The paper concludes:
The Busy Boxes variant of the SALT family of reversible cellular automata has shown itself to possess an intriguing number of features that are worthy of further study and analysis. Physicist Gerard T'Hooft has written about the possibility that reversible CA's such as this one may help elucidate some aspects of physics in the quantum realm [5]. We believe that the study of emergent, qualitative, and statistically predictable behavior of these kinds of discrete, deterministic systems can indeed shed light on questions in physics, and may also help to clarify the deeper principles of entropy and the origin of complex, self-propagating systems such as those found in our biosphere

2012 July 3, Mike James, “A New Computational Universe - Fredkin's SALT CA”, in www.i-programmer.info, retrieved 2012-10-25:

Hello, I have recently constructed a cellular automaton in Golly, with a starting population of roughly 899 million, that produces Shierpinski's triangles.

2013 June 19, Aaron Ball, “Sierpinski's triangles generated from cellular automaton in Golly”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(computing theory) An automaton consisting of cells arranged in a regular grid, in one or more dimensions. Each application of an associated rule creates a new generation, where the cells have a new configuration of values.


solu

solu (nominative singular)
solut (nominative plural)
solu (accusative nominative singular)
solut (accusative nominative plural)
solun (accusative genitive singular)
solut (accusative genitive plural)
solun (genitive singular)
solujen (genitive plural)
solua (partitive singular)
soluja (partitive plural)
solussa (inessive singular)
soluissa (inessive plural)
solusta (elative singular)
soluista (elative plural)
soluun (illative singular)
soluihin (illative plural)
solulla (adessive singular)
soluilla (adessive plural)
solulta (ablative singular)
soluilta (ablative plural)
solulle (allative singular)
soluille (allative plural)
soluna (essive singular)
soluina (essive plural)
soluksi (singular translative)
soluiksi (plural translative)
solutta (abessive singular)
soluitta (abessive plural)
soluin (instructive plural)
See the possessive forms below. (comitative)
soluni (nominative singular)
soluni (nominative plural)
soluni (accusative nominative singular)
soluni (accusative nominative plural)
soluni (accusative genitive singular)
soluni (accusative genitive plural)
soluni (genitive singular)
solujeni (genitive plural)
soluani (partitive singular)
solujani (partitive plural)
solussani (inessive singular)
soluissani (inessive plural)
solustani (elative singular)
soluistani (elative plural)
soluuni (illative singular)
soluihini (illative plural)
solullani (adessive singular)
soluillani (adessive plural)
solultani (ablative singular)
soluiltani (ablative plural)
solulleni (allative singular)
soluilleni (allative plural)
solunani (essive singular)
soluinani (essive plural)
solukseni (singular translative)
soluikseni (plural translative)
soluttani (abessive singular)
soluittani (abessive plural)
soluineni (comitative plural)
solusi (nominative singular)
solusi (nominative plural)
solusi (accusative nominative singular)
solusi (accusative nominative plural)
solusi (accusative genitive singular)
solusi (accusative genitive plural)
solusi (genitive singular)
solujesi (genitive plural)
soluasi (partitive singular)
solujasi (partitive plural)
solussasi (inessive singular)
soluissasi (inessive plural)
solustasi (elative singular)
soluistasi (elative plural)
soluusi (illative singular)
soluihisi (illative plural)
solullasi (adessive singular)
soluillasi (adessive plural)
solultasi (ablative singular)
soluiltasi (ablative plural)
solullesi (allative singular)
soluillesi (allative plural)
solunasi (essive singular)
soluinasi (essive plural)
soluksesi (singular translative)
soluiksesi (plural translative)
soluttasi (abessive singular)
soluittasi (abessive plural)
soluinesi (comitative plural)
solumme (nominative singular)
solumme (nominative plural)
solumme (accusative nominative singular)
solumme (accusative nominative plural)
solumme (accusative genitive singular)
solumme (accusative genitive plural)
solumme (genitive singular)
solujemme (genitive plural)
soluamme (partitive singular)
solujamme (partitive plural)
solussamme (inessive singular)
soluissamme (inessive plural)
solustamme (elative singular)
soluistamme (elative plural)
soluumme (illative singular)
soluihimme (illative plural)
solullamme (adessive singular)
soluillamme (adessive plural)
solultamme (ablative singular)
soluiltamme (ablative plural)
solullemme (allative singular)
soluillemme (allative plural)
solunamme (essive singular)
soluinamme (essive plural)
soluksemme (singular translative)
soluiksemme (plural translative)
soluttamme (abessive singular)
soluittamme (abessive plural)
soluinemme (comitative plural)
solunne (nominative singular)
solunne (nominative plural)
solunne (accusative nominative singular)
solunne (accusative nominative plural)
solunne (accusative genitive singular)
solunne (accusative genitive plural)
solunne (genitive singular)
solujenne (genitive plural)
soluanne (partitive singular)
solujanne (partitive plural)
solussanne (inessive singular)
soluissanne (inessive plural)
solustanne (elative singular)
soluistanne (elative plural)
soluunne (illative singular)
soluihinne (illative plural)
solullanne (adessive singular)
soluillanne (adessive plural)
solultanne (ablative singular)
soluiltanne (ablative plural)
solullenne (allative singular)
soluillenne (allative plural)
solunanne (essive singular)
soluinanne (essive plural)
soluksenne (singular translative)
soluiksenne (plural translative)
soluttanne (abessive singular)
soluittanne (abessive plural)
soluinenne (comitative plural)
solunsa (nominative singular)
solunsa (nominative plural)
solunsa (accusative nominative singular)
solunsa (accusative nominative plural)
solunsa (accusative genitive singular)
solunsa (accusative genitive plural)
solunsa (genitive singular)
solujensa (genitive plural)
soluaan (partitive singular)
soluansa (partitive singular)
solujaan (partitive plural)
solujansa (partitive plural)
solussaan (inessive singular)
solussansa (inessive singular)
soluissaan (inessive plural)
soluissansa (inessive plural)
solustaan (elative singular)
solustansa (elative singular)
soluistaan (elative plural)
soluistansa (elative plural)
soluunsa (illative singular)
soluihinsa (illative plural)
solullaan (adessive singular)
solullansa (adessive singular)
soluillaan (adessive plural)
soluillansa (adessive plural)
solultaan (ablative singular)
solultansa (ablative singular)
soluiltaan (ablative plural)
soluiltansa (ablative plural)
solulleen (allative singular)
solullensa (allative singular)
soluilleen (allative plural)
soluillensa (allative plural)
solunaan (essive singular)
solunansa (essive singular)
soluinaan (essive plural)
soluinansa (essive plural)
solukseen (singular translative)
soluksensa (singular translative)
soluikseen (plural translative)
soluiksensa (plural translative)
soluttaan (abessive singular)
soluttansa (abessive singular)
soluittaan (abessive plural)
soluittansa (abessive plural)
soluineen (comitative plural)
soluinensa (comitative plural)

Probably sola (“narrow space or gap between buildings”) + -u. Coined by Finnish physician and philologist Elias Lönnrot in 1858.

coin

(cellular automata) cell (minimal unit of a cellular automaton)


replicator

Why, this planet was still centuries away from developing such necessities as personal replicators or portable nano-intelligences...

2001, Greg Cox, The Eugenics Wars Vol I: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek), Star Trek, →ISBN, page 76:

either there is not such thing as a concept known as 'spacecraft' (inwhich case, any talk of spacecraft, warp drives, inertial dampers, replicators, and the like would be pointless), or indeed there is.

2001, Judith Barad, Ed Robertson, The Ethics of Star Trek, Harper Perennial, →ISBN, page 74:

The scanner here on Earth will destroy my brain and body, while recording the exact states of all of my cells. It will the transmit this information by radio. Travelling at the speed of light, the message will take three minutes to reach the Replicator on Mars. This will then create, out of new matter, a brain and body exactly like mine. It will be in this body that I shall wake up.

2007, Douglas Hofstadter, I Am a Strange Loop, Basic Books, →ISBN, pages 301–302:

(science fiction) A technological device that replicates physical objects.


Garden of Eden

Calque of Biblical Hebrew גַּן עֵדֶן (gan ʿḗḏen).

calque

In this paper the author presents some properties regarding the existence or non-existence of gardens of Eden for the cellular automata.

1986, Patrick Chenin, Claire Di Crescenzo, François Robert, Computers and Computing: Proceedings, page 181:

I have gotten interested in Garden-of-Eden configurations in Life. All that I have been able to uncover thus far is that there are 2 know configurations:

1989 October 20, Rajeev Pandey, “hints and topics, anyone?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

A configuration e not in the image of τ, namely e ∈ C \ τ[C] is called a Garden of Eden (briefly GOE) configuration, this biblical terminology being motivated by the fact that GOE configurations only appear as initial configurations.

2004, Tullio Ceccherini-Silberstein with Francesca Fiorenzi and Fabio Scarabotti, “The Garden of Eden Theorem for Cellular Automata and for Symbolic Dynamical Systems”, in Vadim A. Kaimanovich, editor, Random Walks and Geometry: Proceedings of a Workshop at the Erwin Schrödinger Institute, Vienna, June 18 - July 13, 2001, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, →OL:

(cellular automata) A pattern that can only exist as an initial state and is not reachable from any other state.


sawtooth

sawtooths (plural)
saw tooth (alternative)

(cellular automata) A pattern whose living cell population reaches new peaks infinitely many times before dropping to a fixed value after each peak.


Herschel

(Uranus): after its discoverer, William Herschel.

This Herschel could be sent through stages of Buckingham's components, producing an arbitrary excess of gliders along a variety of different paths.

This uses Paul Callahan's catalysis of a glider into a Herschel and a glider, followed by David Buckingham's 77, 64, 64, 77, and 77 gen Herschel moves.

1999 October 7, Mirek Wojtowicz, “Conway's Life: Glider reflector?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

In Conway's Life, for example, a surprising number of small patterns serendipitously create R-pentominos and/or B-heptominos, which are "tamable" and happen to travel very well; this is what allows Herschel circuitry to be built.

2007 May 12, Dave Greene, “Wanted: 2D CA, "as complex" but "denser" than Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A heptomino shaped like the lowercase letter h, critical as a methuselah.


methuselah

en-noun

methuselah (plural methuselahs or methuselae)

methuselahs (plural)
methuselae (plural)

The first known methuselah was the r pentomino, but even longer lasting ones have been found by enumerating and testing small patterns. The following, called "rabbits," takes over 10000 generations to stabilize.

1996 December 16, Paul Callahan, “Need help in finding topic for research project”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Is there somewhere a list of n-cell methuselah patterns in Conway's Life? (assuming some reasonable limits on the bounding box)

2003 February 24, Michael Hedera, “Methuselahs in Conway's Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The pattern below seems to take about 30000 generations to stabilize. The initial population is 20. Is this methuselah a known one?

2008 June 29, Andrzej Megier, “Game of life methuselah?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A small pattern that takes many generations to stabilize.


totalistic

BTW: Of course the rules were parametrised, so any totalistic 2-dimensional 9-neighbourhood CA could be run.

1989 March 21, Mark Kramer, “Fast LIFE (was: Re: summing 9-cell neighborhoods)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Note that the game of life is not totalistic: the transition function depends on the cell's own state and on the sum of the neighboring states.

1993 January 17, Dan Gordon, “Universal Cellular Automata.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The Xor operation drastically cuts down the number of operations when dealing with totalistic CA rules. For example, a function of four variables a, b, c, d, returning 1 iff there are exactly two ones and two zeros among its arguments, is represented by this Karnaugh diagram:

1994 July 3, Serge Winitzki, “Optimizing "bitblt" functions using Xor”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Having the state of each cell represented by a number, and the value of a cell dependent only on the sum of the values of nearby cells.

Many good applets run Moore binary totalistic rules such as Conway's Life, but WebsideCA also runs von Neumann rules, rules in the "Brian's Brain" family, non-totalistic binary and decay rules, and Cyclic rules.

1999 September 2, J. Elliott, “ANNOUNCE: WebsideCA Java applet update”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Since Life is totalistic on 8 neighbours, this requires no extra assumptions.

2000 August 20, Gerard Vriens, “Discussion: neighbourhoods”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

... but the B/S notation is _the_ standard for two-state totalistic rules.

2001 October 31, Erik Francis, “Four new rules with replicators”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):


knightship

(cellular automata) A spaceship, in a cellular automaton, which moves knightwise (i.e., moving two spaces along the x-axis for every space it moves along the y-axis [or vice versa], in the manner of a chess knight); a spaceship which moves with slope 2; a (2,1) spaceship.


Game of Life

A cellular automaton devised by mathematician John Horton Conway, consisting of a grid of cells that are either "alive" or "dead" and grow or diminish based on the number of adjacent living cells.


glider gun

But in one position and phase of a 2-bee shuttle (the standard glider gun), the debris evolves into a glider and sails away before the bees return.

1989 October 31, Scott Huddleston, “life: glider guns”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Alas this transformation by itself increases traversal length of the circuit because these new glider guns are much larger.

1998, M. Delorme, Jacques Mazoyer, Cellular automata: a parallel model, page 64:

In particular, since those two patterns extend their repetitions endlessly to the left and right, there is no need for a "glider gun" to provide a continuous supply of new patterns, as you suggest.

2005 January 2, Kent Dolan, “Re: Smaller UTM than Rule110”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) In the Game of Life, any pattern that "fires" out gliders.


Langton's ant

A simulated ant, part of a cellular automaton with simple rules but complicated emergent behaviour. The ant traverses a square lattice of cells, changing their colours and its direction as it passes over them.


surjunctive group

surjunctive group (plural surjunctive groups)

We prove that pre-injective, post-surjective cellular automata over surjunctive groups are reversible.

2015, Silvio Capobianco, Jarkko Kari, Siamak Taati, “Post-surjectivity and balancedness of cellular automata over groups”, in arXiv:

(mathematics) A group such that every injective cellular automaton with the group elements as its cells is also surjective.


pentadecathlon

X! Produces a westward stream of lightweight spaceships representing prime numbers: a LWSS escapes past the pentadecathlon around generation 120n+100 if and only if n is prime.

1993 March 16, David Bell, “Life program (part 6/18)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The speed was very dependent on the number of live cells, but it ran the pentadecathlon at 92 gen/sec in the last version I measured.

2002 July 23, Owen Rees, “Wolfram and "general 2D simulators"”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A particular oscillator that returns to its initial state after 15 generations.


Rule 110

The binary number sequence 01101110, summarising the rule, is equivalent to the decimal number 110. This is the rule's Wolfram code.

(cellular automata) A simple cellular automaton, unusual in being Turing-complete, where each cell's value changes depending on its current value and those of two neighbouring cells.


surjunctive

(mathematics) Describing a group whose every injective cellular automaton is surjective


Seeds

Life-like cellular automaton
Life-like cellular automaton

(cellular automata) A Life-like cellular automaton with the rule B2/S.


switch engine

2. Is it possible to make the switch engine leave debris other than the normal 8 blocks/288 generations?

1990 May 17, David Moews, “Life questions”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

He did this by placing a large number of switch engines together so as to eliminate all debris. His original ship required 13 switch engines, but his smaller one given here only uses 10 of them.

1992 August 13, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 1)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The average random Life pattern settles down instead of exploding (if you ignore output gliders and spaceships). There are exceptional quadratic-growth cases, mostly involving switch engines, but most random patterns affect only their immediate area.

2007 May 12, Dave Greene, “Wanted: 2D CA, "as complex" but "denser" than Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A particular methuselah in Conway's Game of Life that temporarily exhibits glide reflection symmetry while leaving debris behind, allowing for the construction of spaceships, puffers, and rakes.


GOE

About a year and a half ago, Schroeppel and Hickerson found a bunch of patterns with very small predecessor counts. These are used as modules in existence proofs for GOE's within various rectangles, some quite cozy.

1991 March 28, Bill Gosper, “on Life (and Death)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

This describes briefly the discovery of the first GOL GOE by Roger Banks, saying: "[he] used sophisticated mathematical techniques to prove that a certain 9-by-33 rectangular pattern is itself a Garden-of-Eden pattern."

1999 April 1, Tim Tyler, “proof for garden of eden in GOL ?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

As far as I know, even a definite result for the 6x6 case would be progress. The most recent investigation of GoEs that I know about was some interesting work that Donald Knuth recently did in passing for his upcoming Volume 4 of _The Art of Computer Programming_, using binary decision diagrams.

2008 October 22, Dave Greene, “State wrt "Garden of Eden"in Conway's "Game of Life"”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) Initialism of Garden of Eden.


Rule 30

So named because 30 is the smallest Wolfram code that describes its rule set.

(cellular automata) A one-dimensional binary cellular automaton rule displaying aperiodic, chaotic behaviour.


Rule 184

So named because 184 is the rule's Wolfram code.

(cellular automata) A one-dimensional binary cellular automaton rule, notable for solving the majority problem as well as for its ability to simultaneously describe several, seemingly quite different, particle systems.


Rule 90

So named because 90 is the rule's Wolfram code.

(cellular automata) An elementary cellular automaton based on the exclusive-or function.


majority problem

(cellular automata) The problem of finding one-dimensional cellular automaton rules that accurately perform majority voting.


Wolfram code

Introduced by Stephen Wolfram in a 1983 paper.

The rule runs its own randomizer, using Wolfram code 30.

1990 April 29, Rudy Rucker, “vants and wator, calab, long message”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

A code used to describe one-dimensional cellular automaton rules, based on a mapping of cell states to a digit sequence.


semitotalistic

Those are fully symmetric, but not semitotalistic; the main difference lies, among other things, in whether a pair of diametrically opposed live cells should give birth to a new cell.

1992 June 15, Harold McIntosh, “Variations on Conway Life.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Bays looked at several spots in the paramerization space of 'semi-totalistic' ('semi-totalistic' that my new state is a function of only my own state and the sum of my neighbors' states) on cubic as well as 'half-cubic' lattices.

1994 October 11, Wayne Tvedt, “3D Cellular Automata”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

I've recently discovered four new semi-totalistic rules (i.e. defined by neighbor counts, like Life) that have self-replicating patterns in them.

2001 October 31, David Eppstein, “Four new rules with replicators”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) Totalistic only on the outer planes.


GOL

Any info about optimal GOL-algorithms are also welcome. The algorithm I figured is quite fast, but certainly not optimal.. I am using 320x198 (=63360) array of cells, and with my machine I am getting about 7.7 generations per second, but with some assembly optimizing I could be even faster.

1993 September 7, Teemu Lahteenmaki, “Game of Life patterns wanted”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Can someone please tell me if/where there is a central repository or web site to which GoL pattern files may be posted? I have been doing some modest engineering/artwork in GoL that I wud like 2 share with others.

2003 September 22, Otis Schmakel, “File Posting Place(s)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Let's count a number of rules that can be built in GoL-like automatas.

2021 October 19, Stefan W., “Game of Life with real 8 neighbors”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) Initialism of Game of Life.


puffer train

The commonest use of sparks from these spaceships is to perturb an "engine" to produce puffer trains, or to modify stationary objects when the spaceships pass by.

The second has speed c/2, period 2. This one also works in B3/S035; the first is no longer a spaceship but a minimalist puffer train, leaving behind a trail of isolated cells!

1995 November 12, Rich Holmes, “Totalistic spaceships”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

I stuck the rule and seed into Golly, and after a few tens of thousands of generations, stuck another seed in such that the arms of gliders spewed by the two blobs would intersect, and without any more planning than that, it constructed a puffer train, that survived ten or twelve major pattern replications despite the sleet of gliders colliding with it, before it finally got clobbered hard enough to disrupt its progress.

2007 June 3, Kent Dolan, “A "new" Conway Life experience.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):


outer totalistic

Why it is important, to design totalistic or outer totalistic rules?

2003 January 18, Frank Buss, “Searching detailed description of Codd's automaton”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

It's the second-order reversible outer totalistic rule b1234/s0123R on the von Neumann neighborhood.

2003 December 13, Ilmari Karonen, “'TimeWarp' CA rule -- anyone recognize this one?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Hello, How to compute lambda value for (outer-)totalistic rule? Is it the same way like computing for elementary?

2007 August 28, Bob, “Lambda value of (outer-)totalistic code”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) Having the state of each cell represented by a number, and the value of a cell dependent only on its current value along with the sum of the values of nearby cells.


Life-like cellular automaton

Life-like cellular automaton (plural Life-like cellular automata or Life-like cellular automatons)

Life-like cellular automata (plural)
Life-like cellular automatons (plural)

(cellular automata) A cellular automaton resembling Conway's Game of Life in terms of its ruleset (i.e. 2D, binary, outer totalistic, and using the Moore neighborhood).


von Neumann neighborhood

von Neumann neighborhood (plural von Neumann neighborhoods)

von Neumann neighborhoods (plural)
von Neumann neighbourhood (alternative)

Named after John von Neumann, Hungarian mathematician.

(cellular automata) A neighborhood on a 2D square lattice consisting of a cell and its four orthogonal neighbors.

John von Neumann
von Neumann neighborhood


Moore neighborhood

Moore neighborhood (plural Moore neighborhoods)

Moore neighborhoods (plural)
Moore neighbourhood (alternative)

For Edward F. Moore, American cellular automatist

(cellular automata) A neighborhood on a 2D square lattice consisting of a cell and its eight orthogonal and diagonal neighbors.


Life without Death

Named for the fact that the birth rules are identical to those of the Game of Life, but the survival rules are such that it is impossible for living cells to die.

(cellular automata) A Life-like cellular automaton with the rule B3/S012345678.


Highlife

(cellular automata) A Life-like cellular automaton with the rule B36/S23.


Day and Night

Named for the fact that the rule is its own complement; toggling all cell states results in the pattern evolving similarly, but with living and dead cells switched.

(cellular automata) A Life-like cellular automaton with the rule B3678/S34678.


elementary cellular automaton

elementary cellular automaton (plural elementary cellular automata or elementary cellular automatons)

elementary cellular automata (plural)
elementary cellular automatons (plural)

(cellular automata) A one-dimensional, two-state cellular automaton in which a cell's state in the next generation depends only on its current state and the states of its two immediate neighbours.


block cellular automaton

block cellular automaton (plural block cellular automata or block cellular automatons)

block cellular automata (plural)
block cellular automatons (plural)

(cellular automata) A cellular automaton in which the grid is divided into distinct blocks in a uniform pattern, with the blocks being shifted by a certain number of cells in each generation, and each block serving as the neighborhood for all cells contained within it.


partitioning cellular automaton

partitioning cellular automaton (plural partitioning cellular automata or partitioning cellular automatons)

partitioning cellular automata (plural)
partitioning cellular automatons (plural)

block cellular automaton
block cellular automaton

(cellular automata) A block cellular automaton.


Margolus neighborhood

Margolus neighborhood (plural Margolus neighborhoods)

Margolus neighborhoods (plural)
Margolus neighbourhood (alternative)

For Norman Margolus, Canadian-American cellular automatist

In addition to Moore, Von Neuman and Margolus neighborhoods, the spatial, temporal (phase) and user connector extensions of CAM-PC provide for a large number of different neighborhoods. In this sense, a simple neighborhood is actually a selection of up to 16 of the 50 to 100 signals (depending on what you count) that are available.

1992 March 16, CAM-PC Support Staff, “CAM, CAM-6, CAM\PC boards.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Another thing which seems to work very well is embodied in the Margolus neighborhood, for which different rules are operative at different points in the lattice, and even at different times.

1992 March 30, Harold V. McIntosh, “1) What kind of tilings? 2) CAM family.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

For any one interested in CA's in general or in simulations that require the conservatin laws of the Margolus neighborhood in particular I've managed to devise a method for duplicating all the properties of the Margolus neighborhood without the paritioning and without the block rules.

2003 March 15, fiziwig, “New formulation of the Margolus neighborhood”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A block cellular automaton neighborhood consisting of a two-by-two square of cells which shifts one cell diagonally each generation.


lightweight spaceship

lightweight spaceship (plural lightweight spaceships)

To begin with and to be complete, I will list the original spaceships. These are the glider, the lightweight spaceship (LWSS), middleweight spaceship (MWSS), and the heavyweight spaceship (HWSS). These were all found very soon after Life was invented by Conway.

1992 August 13, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 1)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

It's a reaction between a glider and a lightweight spaceship spark, nondestructive to the spaceship (so it can be used in puffers):

1994 May 14, Paul Callahan, “Louis Howell's question of block clearing in life (simple solution)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

The usual non-glider suspects from Conway's Life (lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight spaceships) all fail here due to central 7-neighbor OFF cells.

2008 May 31, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A particular orthogonal spaceship in Conway's Game of Life, and the smallest such example.


LWSS

For example, two gliders can produce another glider, and three gliders can produce a LWSS or MWSS or a HWSS.

the simple "gliders" work perfectly fine, but the LWSS spaceship works great until the 15th generation when a singular pixel gets misplaced and the entire structure collapses.

1992 August 23, Albert Schnezer, “Programming Life in Tpascal”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

It begins with the period-20 spaceship that consists of a p20 puffer stabilized by a third lwss; this is the basis for the standard p20 forward and backward rakes.

1994 December 7, Paul Callahan, “Program to search for collisions in Conway's Life (C code)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

lightweight spaceship
lightweight spaceship#English

(cellular automata) Initialism of lightweight spaceship.


middleweight spaceship

middleweight spaceship (plural middleweight spaceships)

The trailing middleweight spaceships convert the spark into a pair of pi-heptominos, which start the line of blinkers burning again, while leaving behind a pair of blocks.

1996 December 16, Dean Hickerson, “What is his name ?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A particular orthogonal spaceship in Conway's Game of Life, and the second smallest such example.


R-pentomino

I came up with an implementation of an algorithm on my Sparcstation 1 that does all 1103 generations of the R-pentomino, including the gliders, in 1.3 seconds (no display), and runs o.....o. ..o...o. ..o..o.o .o.o.... (a pattern by Wainright recommended to me by Gosper) out to 10,000 generations in 45 seconds (again, without display).

1990 January 15, Paul Dietz, “Gosper's Algorithm for Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

I've finisher debugging the code, and it works -- that is to say, its final configuration for the R-pentomino is the same as the one in my books. (It's my guess that the R-p will find any bug in any life program, no matter how obscure.)

1990 June 8, Robert Herrell, “Life without bounds”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

This explosive collision is "perturbed" by the permanent parts of the reflector so that at generation 242, the destroyed block is restored, a glider is released in the reverse direction, an r-pentomino is produced some distance from the stage, and a beehive is left in an awkward position close to the block.

1996 November 19, Paul Callahan, “Glider reflector in Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(geometry) A particular five-square polyomino.

(cellular automata) The methuselah based on this polyomino that, in Conway's Game of Life, has a lifespan of 1,103 generations.


B-heptomino

Perturbations of its reaction also reproduce it in different generations. This might be tamed someday to form glider guns or puffers, as the B-heptomino in Life has been.

1994 May 7, David Bell, “HighLife - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 3/3)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

Actually, the period 30 "queen bee" shuttle seems irreparable, as it contains several instances of the Ship neighborhood duriod its cycle. It's the period 46 b-heptomino shuttle that can be stabilized with clocks.

1994 May 11, Paul Callahan, “HighLife - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 3/3)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

In B37/S23, it goes symmetrical after 10 ticks, and produces a familiar pair of B-heptominoes after 23 ticks (the next generation after this can be found in the rotor of a standard B3/S23 p46 oscillator):

2008 June 25, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A particular seven-cell methuselah in Conway's Game of Life.


pi-heptomino

A growing spaceship which uses the pi-heptomino.

1993 March 16, David Bell, “Life program (part 14/18)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

It does include a pseudo-spaceship based on the Pi-heptomino (pseudo because it needs some classic spaceships in front, and so the middle gets longer and longer.

1995 March 30, John Harper, “Life - has anybody found....”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

1) gliders on paths *adjacent* to the six annihilating paths produce a pi-heptomino and consequent large explosion -- and there's no way to place blocks on nearby lanes to catch those gliders, because they'd interact messily with gliders on some of the original six glider paths;

2005 February 23, Dave Greene, “exist glider gun able of reconstruction in Life?”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

(cellular automata) A particular symmetric seven-cell methuselah in Conway's Game of Life.


oblique spaceship

oblique spaceship (plural oblique spaceships)

(cellular automata) A particular spaceship in Conway's Game of Life, which moves neither orthogonally nor diagonally.


발진기

From 발진(發振) (baljin, “oscillation”) + 기(器) (gi, “device, machine”).