ConwayLife.com

xlife did this with its #I format, see Life man page

But as Dave says, it's not fun to write a parser to read or write such files.

The other approach is to use a Python or perl script to build the pattern, and compress the script, an approach I've used with some of my Ticker patterns.

Here's an ...

calcyman wrote:In response to your last comment, my O(sqrt(log(t))) pattern displays every possible bitmap image, given sufficient time.

Ah, ok. That's pretty amazing. But I guess I've come to expect amazingness from you, calcyman.

Thanks for fixing that, Awesomeness.

I'm still using Golly 1.2 on this ancient machine. I need to do major "renovations" before I can run later versions. So there are a few differences in the way scripts behave on my system.

I don't know if this has been changed in later versions, but if you do a ...

I'm totally blown away by the new Gemini pattern, of course. :)
You gotta simulate it by hand! :D :D :D
Um, maybe not. That one'd take a small army! But on a related note, I think it'd be very cool to get a huge crowd to do a living Life display. I guess it'd be hard to get the numbers to display ...

I've uploaded a few Python scripts (in the Scripts forum) to produce patterns like this. And in the Patterns forum, I've posted pattern files that produce images of Marilyn Monroe and John Conway. They shouldn't be too hard to find.

The Golly ticker (and my earlier scripts) use p46 technology, but ...

I, too, started playing with Life in the early 70s. In those days, I used modeling clay on the bathroom floor tiles. When I got access to computers, I wrote a few simple programs using very naive algorithms, but it was faster than doing it by hand. :) But I still like doing it by hand from time to ...

RANDGUN.LIF
Pseudorandom number generator with p46 logic
A glider stream is emitted representing a pseudorandom binary
sequence satisfying the recursion a[n] = a[n-1] XOR a[n-12].
(By spreading out the pattern, the 12 can be changed.) The
sequence has period 3255, so the gun has period 46*3255 ...

I spent some time last night playing with patterns like the ones Calcyman posted above, but with enough separation to allow the reactions to work properly. I now agree that the stargate's fast forward reaction (FFR) is an optical illusion.

At step 6, the FFR produces a LWSS displaced 11 cells to ...

..... The stargate is a p60 device, and it accelerates any p60 LWSS stream you feed it, assuming the stream is in synch with the stargate. .....
Yes, this much can be found via Internet, and concretely, in the LifeWiki. However, I wonder if this description is truly worthy of the reference source ...

A recent example was the reasonable explanation in the LifeWiki that the stargate was an optical illusion, but that leads to the interesting question of whether the stargate needs a steady stream of space ships to generate the boost, or if it can be done on demand?
The stargate is a p60 device ...

Collatz sequence generator
I am absolutely stunned ! You've probably found more uses for that adder circuit than anyone else.
Thanks, calcyman! It's fun building these things, and actually I'm a little surprised that there aren't more patterns floating around that use that adder circuit.

From ...

Collatz sequence generator

Here's my most ambitious arithmetic-oriented pattern to date.

This pattern calculates the Collatz sequence in binary, using p60 / p30
technology. Input and output is done using LWSS bits. The next number in
the Collatz sequence is generated after 7680 (= 128 * 60 ...

After a break of several months, I've been building things again.

Here's a cute 6 glider wipeout reaction I stumbled across recently.

Here's a tight double spiral which can easily be expanded. The Buckaroo sequence on each "arm" repeats every 270 pixels.
BuckarooSpiralA0.rle

x = 681, y = 691, rule = B3/S23
338bo$339bo$337b3o6$346bo$344bobo$345b2o5$353bo$354bo$352b3o3$339b2o$
339bo$326bo10bobo$325bobo9b2o22bo$318b2o4bob2o31bobo ...

Here are some patterns using the humble Buckaroo that I've built over the last couple of weeks.

Firstly, here is a grid displaying all phases of the Buckaroo. It was created in Golly using this script .
BuckarooGridA.rle

x = 240, y = 198, rule = B3/S23 ...

This script creates a numbered grid of multiple generations of the currently selected pattern. Each grid entry is numbered using the Snakial font. It was written to display all phases of an oscillator (or guns) in a single pattern.

PatGrid0.py

# Golly Python script
# Display a numbered grid of ...

A recent xkcd thread mentioned that there are modular circuit kits available for implementing the Game of Life which display the Life board on a grid of LEDs. These modules can be connected together to make a larger board. The supplied software initializes the board with a random pattern, but the ...

Are you suggesting that a toad (p2 oscillator) is a type of plant?! :lol:
It could be...

We already have a pulsar, quasar, star and Kok's galaxy. And they are all dwarfed by the Caterpillar. Indeed. But I'm talking about the possibility of a new naming system. As I said earlier, it may not be a ...

Various interesting collisions between the c/6 ship and gliders, beehives, snakes, eaters & blocks.


x = 845, y = 501, rule = B3/S23
684bo$682bobo$683b2o$29bo159bo159bo159bo159bo159bo$28b3o157b3o157b3o
157b3o157b3o157b3o$28b2obo2b2o8bo143b2obo2b2o8bo143b2obo2b2o8bo143b2ob ...

Fill current selection with a random glider field. Density must be a random floating point number between 0 & 1. Separation & seed are integers >= 0


# Golly python script.
# Written by PM 2Ring, November 2009

''' Fill current selection with a random glider field '''

import golly
from glife ...

I'm going to try & bounce gliders off it. No luck. The front might look a bit like a pentadecathlon, but the corners don't and that's where gliders would bounce off. Oh well.

But I did discover that it doesn't like snakes. See what happens when a snake suddenly jumps into its path:
x = 35, y = 18 ...

Much naming is uninspired: x is adjectived by long, longer, ... trans, cis, para, and other greek and latin terms. There have been suggestions to follow in Linaeus' or Mendeleev's footsteps; after all botanists, chemists, and others have extremely well developed naming systems.

Speaking of short ...

A pair of p182 LWSS streams are periodically eaten by pairs of gliders that bounce between the streams.
x = 602, y = 328, rule = B3/S23
332bob2o$332b2obo3$319bo42bo52b2obo$319b3o38b3o52bob2o$322bo20b2o14bo$
305b2o14b2o11b2o6b2o15b2o7b2o$305b2o27b2o8bo23bo19bo42bo$353b3o10bobo
19b3o38b3o ...

Tight salvo emerges from chaos:
x = 33, y = 29, rule = B3/S23
9b2o$9bobo$10b2o9$2o$2o7$4b2o$4b2o6$30b3o$31bo$29b3o!

I somehow missed that one yesterday, but now that I look at it, it seems vaguely familiar. I wonder if it can be tamed with a few still lifes to reduce the debris?

Three glider ...

Responding to *****'s question...
a) People do not normally have heart attacks at 13 years of age.
b) What age did you think I was? 27?
c) I was shocked at how well the portrait was rendered.
Now back to the main topic...
d) Maybe you could use different colored gliders?
:D
I thought you were in ...