Conway’s Game of Life

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Life Lexicon

Component

A partial glider synthesis that can be used in the same way in multiple glider recipes. A component transforms part of an object under construction in a well-defined way, without affecting the rest of the object. For example, this well-known component can be used to add a hook to any object that includes a protruding table end, converting it to a long bookend:

Game of Life pattern ’component’

"Component" is also used to specify any piece of an object - spaceship, oscillator, etc. - that can be combined with other components in specific ways according to a grammar to produce a variety of objects. The components can either be independent objects that only occasionally react with each other, or else they can be fused together to support each other. For example, any branching spaceship is made up of several components, and there is a single repeating component in any wicktrailer.

Game of Life Explanation

The Game of Life is not your typical computer game. It is a cellular automaton, and was invented by Cambridge mathematician John Conway.

This game became widely known when it was mentioned in an article published by Scientific American in 1970. It consists of a grid of cells which, based on a few mathematical rules, can live, die or multiply. Depending on the initial conditions, the cells form various patterns throughout the course of the game.

Rules

For a space that is populated:
Examples

Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by solitude.

Each cell with four or more neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.

Each cell with two or three neighbors survives.

For a space that is empty or unpopulated:

Each cell with three neighbors becomes populated.

More information

Video’s about the Game of Life

Stephen Hawkings The Meaning of Life (John Conway's Game of Life segment)
The rules are explained in Stephen Hawkings’ documentary The Meaning of Life
Inventing Game of Life (John Conway) - Numberphile
John Conway himself talks about the Game of Life

Interesting articles about John Conway

Implemented by Edwin Martin <>