FAQ

[Apersoma]

I've seen people want an FAQ page on the wiki, its also in the task list so I'm going to make it. Please respond with a question or an answer.

I have a question first though, what is the intended way to make a new page, I know how to make one by typing a non-extant page name in the url but I don't think that's how your supposed to do it.

[hotdogPi]

Typing the page name into the URL is typically how I do it.

[Apersoma]

This is the link to the page https://conwaylife.com/wiki/FAQ

[hotdogPi]

I moved it from the main namespace to the LifeWiki namespace, since it's not an article. The page was only moved, not deleted. LifeWiki:FAQ

[Apersoma]

Typing the page name into the URL is typically how I do it.

Ok, also do you think I should add this to the FAQ page? Idk if I should becuase I doubt it's frequently asked, I think it should definitely be put on the editing help page though.

[Apersoma]

I moved it from the main namespace to the LifeWiki namespace, since it's not an article. The page was only moved, not deleted. LifeWiki:FAQ

Thank you, I didn't realize that I had to name it like that. Also how do you make a redirect page?

[hotdogPi]

I moved it from the main namespace to the LifeWiki namespace, since it's not an article. The page was only moved, not deleted. LifeWiki:FAQ

Thank you, I didn't realize that I had to name it like that. Also how do you make a redirect page?

Create a page, and put this as the only text in the page:

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#REDIRECT [[Target page]]

[rutabaga]

How do you make an animated CGOL pattern as your profile picture? Or do you have to do it as a GIF

[dvgrn]

How do you make an animated CGOL pattern as your profile picture? Or do you have to do it as a GIF

I think the usual way is with Scorbie's giffer.py script, but I don't remember the caveats and limitations (if any). If someone can confirm I've got the right link, that would be a good question-and-answer to go in the FAQ. Scorbie's repo, mentioned on the giffer.py error reporting thread, has been removed, and codeholic's repo is definitely very old now.

New versions of Golly now come with giffer.lua, which doesn't need a separate install for the language the way Python does. Again there may be some caveats that would be good to know. There aren't any particular limitations mentioned in the Lua script comments.

[TYCF]

You could use this template on the wiki page:

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{{WIP}}

[confocaloid]

You could use this template on the wiki page:

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{{WIP}}

Personally, I don't think substituting {{WIP}} for {{stub}} will change anything, unless at least a few people-who-know-stuff are enthusiastic about going ahead and writing down the FAQ items.

[TYCF]

You could use this template on the wiki page:

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{{WIP}}

Personally, I don't think substituting {{WIP}} for {{stub}} will change anything, unless at least a few people-who-know-stuff are enthusiastic about going ahead and writing down the FAQ items.

I posted it because the wiki page said: This is a work in progress, if you have questions but no answers please go to this forum page: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5927 & ask your question.

[cogburnd02]

How do systematic names work? How do you go from a 2d binary array to a name like 282P6H2V1??

[cogburnd02]

or a name like xs33_69b8bb88gz69d1dd11?

[muzik]

The second format is documented extensively here: https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Apgcode

The first is a simple set of statistics regarding a given pattern: 282 cells, period 6, horizontally moves 2 cells, vertically moves 1 cell.

[PK22]

How do systematic names work? How do you go from a 2d binary array to a name like 282P6H2V1??
or a name like xs33_69b8bb88gz69d1dd11?

Welcome to the forums!

The first name describes Sir Robin using a format used for spaceships, which re-appear translated across the grid after a number of generations.
The numbers represent, in order:

• The population - how many live cells the spaceship has in its minimum phase.
• The period - number of generations required for it to re-appear translated.
• The horizontal displacement. Since patterns in Life do not evolve differently under rotation or reflection, this is always positive and greater than or equal to the vertical displacement.
• The vertical displacement, which is always non-negative.

The second name (xs33_69b8bb88gz69d1dd11) is an apgcode. See the linked wiki page for an explanation. It is a way to encode small to medium-large objects (as well as linear growth patterns) with a string (that will not interfere with URLs or filesystems) regardless of orientation, so it is used by some search programs such as apgsearch and by Catagolue to keep track of and store patterns.

Other systematic formats exist. For oscillators, the format is <minimum population>P<period>, such as 29P45.

Also, please be mindful of rule 3a:

"Do not post multiple messages consecutively in the same thread without a good reason. If you made the most recent post on a thread and you have something short to add on the same topic, please edit your previous post instead of making a new one.".

[dvgrn]

Other systematic formats exist. For oscillators, the format is <minimum population>P<period>, such as 29P45.

Addendum: for both the spaceship and oscillator formats, if more than one spaceship turns out to have the same minimum population, period, and displacement, then we sometimes start numbering them, usually in the order in which they were discovered or enumerated, by adding a dot followed by an index number -- thus 25P3H1V0.1, 25P3H1V0.2, etc.

We don't ever carry that kind of numbering system too far, because different cataloguers end up enumerating spaceships or oscillators in different orders, and lists like that aren't always known to be complete. But for small and common oscillators and spaceships, if people are using a name that ends in .[x], then that is generally the commonly agreed-on name for that object.