Two dimensional Cellular Automata

Life(life_description; radius=1)

Create a Life object to simulate a cellular automaton based on a variation of the Conway's Game of Life, using custom rules for cell birth and survival. The rules are defined using the Golly notation.

Arguments

• life_description: A tuple of two tuples ((b, s)) specifying the birth (b) and survival (s) rules.

  • b: A tuple containing the numbers of neighbouring cells that cause a dead cell to become alive in the next generation.
  • s: A tuple containing the numbers of neighbouring cells that allow a live cell to remain alive in the next generation.

• radius (optional): The radius of the neighborhood considered for determining cell fate. Defaults to 1.

Usage

life = Life(((3,), (2, 3)); radius=1)  # Initializes Life

After instantiation, the Life object can be used to evolve a given starting array representing the initial state of the cellular automaton:

# Initialize Life with custom rules: birth if 3 neighbors, survive if 2 or 3 neighbors
life = Life(((3,), (2, 3)); radius=1)

# Example starting state: a 5x5 grid with a "glider" pattern
starting_array = zeros(Int, 5, 5)
starting_array[2, 3] = 1
starting_array[3, 4] = 1
starting_array[4, 2:4] = 1

# Compute the next generation
next_generation = life(starting_array)