Thread for basic questions

[TYCF]

What abbreviation for types of patterns are there?

[confocaloid]

What is MCPS(DBCA)?

What abbreviation for types of patterns are there?

ATBC = Actual Thing Being Constructed
BRG = Bit-Reading Glider
BSRD = Bit Storage and Retrieval Device
BTBHF = either a block that becomes honeyfarm when hit by a glider, or another stationary object which can be hit by a glider and becomes a honeyfarm in the same position relative to the glider lane
BTC = billiard table configuration
BTS = bookend-table-snake (a still life and a catalyst)
CC = colour-changing (about glider reflectors / shifters)
CFLA = confusing four letter acronym
CP = colour-preserving (about glider reflectors / shifters)
DBCA = Decoder and Better Construction Arm
DOGun SaGaQR
ECCA = Extreme Compression Construction Arm
ERS = edge-repair spaceship
FLMD = full length multiword description
FNG = first natural glider; a glider emitted by an evolving Herschel
FSM = finite-state machine
GIG = glider injection gate
GPC = general purpose calculator
IMG = intermittent glider gun
LCM oscillator = least common multiple oscillator; made out of interacting lower-period oscillators with at least one cell oscillating at full period due to the interaction
LL spark = a certain spark made out of two L-tetrominoes
MCFLA = more confusing five letter acronym
MCP = minimum covering polyplet (of another pattern)
MMM = a type of a breeder
MMS = a type of a breeder
MSM = a type of a breeder
MSS = a type of a breeder
NE(n)T(t) = a Herschel-to-glider converter with output glider lane #n northeast and output glider timing t
NW(n)T(t) = a Herschel-to-glider converter with output glider lane #n northwest and output glider timing t
OMOS = oscillator made out of spaceships (a repeated collision between spaceships that is an oscillator)
OTT = one-time turner; a stationary object that can be used to change the direction of movement of a glider and is cleanly destroyed in the collision
OWSS = overweight spaceship
POTY = a pattern nominated for the Pattern of the Year
PPS = either pre-pulsar shuttle or pre-pulsar spaceship
PRNG = pseudorandom number generator
QBS = queen bee shuttle
RCT = Reverse Caber Tosser
RRO = reflectorless rotating oscillator; a statorless oscillator engine needing no support to work, with at least two different phases having non-overlapping or barely-overlapping bounding boxes
SBM = sliding block memory
SE(n)T(t) = a Herschel-to-glider converter with output glider lane #n southeast and output glider timing t
SKOP (n) = smallest known oscillator of the given period (n)
SMM = a type of a breeder
SMS = a type of a breeder
SMOS = spaceship made out of spaceships (a repeated collision between spaceships that is a spaceship)
SPEBOE = an object that can explode into a pi-heptomino reaction when hit by a glider in the same way as a block does
SSM = a type of a breeder
SSS = a type of a breeder
SW(n)T(t) = a Herschel-to-glider converter with output glider lane #n southwest and output glider timing t
TBS = twin bees shuttle
UC = either universal constructor or universal computer
WIAAFQR = viewtopic.php?p=146979#p146988
xWSS = either of LWSS, MWSS, HWSS
xp = apgcode prefix for oscillators
xq = apgcode prefix for spaceships
xs = apgcode prefix for still-lives
yl = apgcode prefix for infinite growths that are sufficiently well-behaved to be recognized
zz = apgcode prefix for patterns that (appear to) grow too chaotically to be recognized
(maybe at this point it would be best to try to avoid new acronyms; existing ones are already confusing enough)

[TYCF]

Thank you for providing such a
long list of abbreviations.

[dvgrn]

Is there only one known rumbling river? Or just only one notable one?

The rumbling river article just says that "Rumbling river 1 is a notable example."

[confocaloid]

Is there only one known rumbling river? Or just only one notable one?

The rumbling river article just says that "Rumbling river 1 is a notable example."

The cuphook rotor has three cells in the shape of the L-triomino, and contained (independently) in each of two different width-2 stripes. So it matches the definition of rumbling river. Another example is new five, with rotor in the shape of the U-pentomino.

[TinkerMagus]

Hi I'm new. I'm a bit familiar with RLE format but what do the "A"s mean in the code below ? And I see some dots too. What are they ?

Could this help?

Code: Select all

x = 34, y = 35, rule = B3s23
2$7.A.A$6.A2.A$5.2A$4.A$3.4A$2.A4.A6.A$2.A2.A5.2A.A$2.A2.A5.A$3.A7.A$
4.4A.A$5.A3.A$6.A$6.5A2$6.5A$6.A$5.A3.A2.A$4.4A.A$3.A7.A.A7.5A$2.A2.A
5.A9.A4.A$2.A2.A5.5A5.A$2.A4.A14.A3.A$3.4A4.2A.A2.A6.A$4.A6.A2.A$5.2A
4.A4.A.A2.3A$6.A2.A6.A6.A$7.A.A2.A3.A6.A$10.A.A4.A4.A$19.2A!

[dvgrn]

Hi I'm new. I'm a bit familiar with RLE format but what do the "A"s mean in the code below ? And I see some dots too. What are they ?

Could this help?

Code: Select all

x = 34, y = 35, rule = B3s23
2$7.A.A$6.A2.A$5.2A$4.A$3.4A$2.A4.A6.A$2.A2.A5.2A.A$2.A2.A5.A$3.A7.A$
4.4A.A$5.A3.A$6.A$6.5A2$6.5A$6.A$5.A3.A2.A$4.4A.A$3.A7.A.A7.5A$2.A2.A
5.A9.A4.A$2.A2.A5.5A5.A$2.A4.A14.A3.A$3.4A4.2A.A2.A6.A$4.A6.A2.A$5.2A
4.A4.A.A2.3A$6.A2.A6.A6.A$7.A.A2.A3.A6.A$10.A.A4.A4.A$19.2A!

That's multistate RLE format, needed when there are more cell states than just ON and OFF (so not actually needed in this case, because there aren't any B's or C's or anything but A's). Periods and A's in multistate format are equivalent to the b's and o's in two-state format, respectively.

For two-state rules, a "b" represents an off cell, and a "o" represents an on cell. For rules with more than two states, a "." represents a zero state; states 1..24 are represented by "A".."X", states 25..48 by "pA".."pX", states 49..72 by "qA".."qX", and on up to states 241..255 represented by "yA".."yO". The pattern reader is flexible and will permit "b" and "." interchangeably and "o" and "A" interchangeably.

The rule header in that RLE is slightly non-standard, though -- ordinarily the rule string would be rule = B3/S23.

[TYCF]

Is a spark coil both a rumbling river and a babbling brook?

[dvgrn]

Is a spark coil both a rumbling river and a babbling brook?

Nah. The rumbling river definition could be read in a way that technically supports that idea. But that wasn't the intention of the definition, any more than anyone should try to claim that an oscillator is a velocity-zero spaceship or a still life is a period-1 oscillator.

Or rather, it's fine to claim that, it's just not an interesting claim that should be taken seriously or find its way into LifeWiki articles.

[confocaloid]

Is a spark coil both a rumbling river and a babbling brook?

I think yes. The rotor is connected and contained within a strip of width 2. That matches the definition of rumbling river.
Alternatively, the rotor is contained in a 2xN rectangle for some N; in this case taking N = 1 is enough.

[TinkerMagus]

Hi I'm new. I'm a bit familiar with RLE format but what do the "A"s mean in the code below ? And I see some dots too. What are they ?

That's multistate RLE format, needed when there are more cell states than just ON and OFF (so not actually needed in this case, because there aren't any B's or C's or anything but A's). Periods and A's in multistate format are equivalent to the b's and o's in two-state format, respectively.

For two-state rules, a "b" represents an off cell, and a "o" represents an on cell. For rules with more than two states, a "." represents a zero state; states 1..24 are represented by "A".."X", states 25..48 by "pA".."pX", states 49..72 by "qA".."qX", and on up to states 241..255 represented by "yA".."yO". The pattern reader is flexible and will permit "b" and "." interchangeably and "o" and "A" interchangeably.

The rule header in that RLE is slightly non-standard, though -- ordinarily the rule string would be rule = B3/S23.

Thanks ! What a welcoming community you guys have here ! I hope I can contribute someday.

[HerscheltheHerschel]

Hi I'm new. I'm a bit familiar with RLE format but what do the "A"s mean in the code below ? And I see some dots too. What are they ?

That's multistate RLE format, needed when there are more cell states than just ON and OFF (so not actually needed in this case, because there aren't any B's or C's or anything but A's). Periods and A's in multistate format are equivalent to the b's and o's in two-state format, respectively.

For two-state rules, a "b" represents an off cell, and a "o" represents an on cell. For rules with more than two states, a "." represents a zero state; states 1..24 are represented by "A".."X", states 25..48 by "pA".."pX", states 49..72 by "qA".."qX", and on up to states 241..255 represented by "yA".."yO". The pattern reader is flexible and will permit "b" and "." interchangeably and "o" and "A" interchangeably.

The rule header in that RLE is slightly non-standard, though -- ordinarily the rule string would be rule = B3/S23.

Thanks ! What a welcoming community you guys have here ! I hope I can contribute someday.

You can contribute anytime. Either engineer things by combining multiple known things, use search programs to reduce the effort of doing things by hand (Category:Software), or randomly search random soups (apgsearch, Catagolue).

[TinkerMagus]

That's multistate RLE format, needed when there are more cell states than just ON and OFF (so not actually needed in this case, because there aren't any B's or C's or anything but A's). Periods and A's in multistate format are equivalent to the b's and o's in two-state format, respectively.


The rule header in that RLE is slightly non-standard, though -- ordinarily the rule string would be rule = B3/S23.

Thanks ! What a welcoming community you guys have here ! I hope I can contribute someday.

You can contribute anytime. Either engineer things by combining multiple known things, use search programs to reduce the effort of doing things by hand (Category:Software), or randomly search random soups (apgsearch, Catagolue).

Enginnering things seems the most interesting to me. What patterns are the community interested to engineer ? what keywords should I use to find those threads ? With the sheer amount of computer power put into this I think it must be extremely hard to contribute anything new or useful. But I like beautiful things so maybe there are threads that value visual beauty and entertainment above improving records ?

[HerscheltheHerschel]

Thanks ! What a welcoming community you guys have here ! I hope I can contribute someday.

You can contribute anytime. Either engineer things by combining multiple known things, use search programs to reduce the effort of doing things by hand (Category:Software), or randomly search random soups (apgsearch, Catagolue).

Enginnering things seems the most interesting to me. What patterns are the community interested to engineer ? what keywords should I use to find those threads ? With the sheer amount of computer power put into this I think it must be extremely hard to contribute anything new or useful. But I like beautiful things so maybe there are threads that value visual beauty and entertainment above improving records ?

Try to do at least one pattern from Construction Challenges and Ideas.
You can also do Still Life Art.

[dvgrn]

With the sheer amount of computer power put into this I think it must be extremely hard to contribute anything new or useful.

It's actually still very easy to make useful contributions. Technically "new things" are also very easy, though "new notable things" is a somewhat higher bar.

An example of something in the "useful contribution" category just came up on Discord this morning, for example. Someone with enough patience for the task could go through the Elementary Conduits collection and sort out (by name and/or by RLE) the ones that are edge shooters, and/or that have transparent output lanes, and/or that have transparent lanes near their output lanes.

If a stamp collection like that showed up in a new "Edge Shooters" thread, then that would probably be where everybody would go to look up edge-shooting mechanisms from now on, and also where everyone would go to post newly discovered edge shooters.

That's just one example; there's always a lot of this kind of organizational work that needs doing -- and doing it has the advantage of helping the organizer learn a lot about the topic along the way.

On the "beautiful" side of things, I think there's a lot that could be done with different kinds of colored LifeViewer animations of interesting patterns, that hasn't been done yet.

[TinkerMagus]

What is this? replicator?

Code: Select all

x = 44, y = 18, rule = R2,C0,M1,S10..19,B4..4,NM
28bob5o2bo4bo$32b4o2b5o$bo4bo2b5obo18bob7o$b5o2b4o18bobobo3bobo$b7obo
19bo2b4obobo$3bobo3bobobo14b2o2b3obo5bo$4bobob4o2bo13b4o2bobo6bo$bo5bo
b3o2b2o16b3o2bo3bo$o6bobo2b4o14bob4obob2o2bo$2bo3bo2b3o16b2obo3bobob2o
$o2b2obob4obo14bobo2b2ob2o5bo$3b2obobo3bob2o12bobobo5b4o$o5b2ob2o2bobo
12b7o2bobo3bo$2b4o5bobobo13bo3b3obo3bobo$o3bobo2b7o14b4obobo3b3o$obo3b
ob3o3bo13bob2obobob2o$3o3bobob4o$5b2obobob2obo!

what does C1 mean in here ? b38s23/C1
I googled but found nothing about the C1 neighborhood. Where can I read about this terminology ?

[TYCF]

What is this? replicator?

Code: Select all

x = 44, y = 18, rule = R2,C0,M1,S10..19,B4..4,NM
28bob5o2bo4bo$32b4o2b5o$bo4bo2b5obo18bob7o$b5o2b4o18bobobo3bobo$b7obo
19bo2b4obobo$3bobo3bobobo14b2o2b3obo5bo$4bobob4o2bo13b4o2bobo6bo$bo5bo
b3o2b2o16b3o2bo3bo$o6bobo2b4o14bob4obob2o2bo$2bo3bo2b3o16b2obo3bobob2o
$o2b2obob4obo14bobo2b2ob2o5bo$3b2obobo3bob2o12bobobo5b4o$o5b2ob2o2bobo
12b7o2bobo3bo$2b4o5bobobo13bo3b3obo3bobo$o3bobo2b7o14b4obobo3b3o$obo3b
ob3o3bo13bob2obobob2o$3o3bobob4o$5b2obobob2obo!

what does C1 mean in here ? b38s23/C1
I googled but found nothing about the C1 neighborhood. Where can I read about this terminology ?

You can find it in LifeWiki.

[dvgrn]

What is this? replicator?

Code: Select all

x = 44, y = 18, rule = R2,C0,M1,S10..19,B4..4,NM...

What does C1 mean in here ? b38s23/C1
I googled but found nothing about the C1 neighborhood. Where can I read about this terminology ?

The "C1" in "b38s23/C1" -- the Catagolue "symmetry" that is actually no symmetry -- is different from the "C0" in the Larger than Life rulestring you quoted, which refers to the number of colors (a.k.a. states).

It looks to me like LifeViewer must be ignoring that "C0". The LifeWiki says that that number can be between zero and 255, but cellular automata with zero valid states, or even with only one valid state, aren't ordinarily very interesting.

So that's my basic question: does anyone know where that "C0" rule is coming from, and why it says that rather than "C2"?

[confocaloid]

what does C1 mean in here ? b38s23/C1

The post you quoted didn't contain 'b38s23/C1' (although the signature below that post did, so I take it you wanted to quote that part).

The 'C1' in 'b38s23/C1' stands for an apgsearch symmetry which means "16x16 asymmetric pseudorandom soups". See Apgsearch#Higher_symmetries and Catagolue#Results_in_Conway's_Game_of_Life for more details.

You can find it in LifeWiki.

That does not answer the question. LifeWiki has lots of articles and other pages and saying "LifeWIki" without giving a specific link is not helpful.

[TinkerMagus]

I imagine the discussion for B3/S238, B38/S23, and B38/S238 should probably get moved to another thread... (I discovered a small explosion in B38/S238 similar(?) to LoM in Life, and stairstep hexamino in B38/S238 is a methuselah that stabilizes in 3591 generations and outputs 38 gliders)

Now, back to the purpose of this thread:

For spaceships I would like to see some sort of addition to the table of spaceship speeds (like an oblique spaceship or a c/7 wickstrecher)

For oscillators I would like to see a new oscillator period. Especially period 34.

For software, I'd like to see a graphical search program that is at least a little bit better than WLS (maybe a version of gfind with some sort of basic GUI? probably won't happen though)

I would ask for Golly to implement SmoothLife but Golly would have to add support for a pseudo-continuous 'grid', so not sure how well that would work.

What does WLS stand for ? what is it ?

[confocaloid]

(long old quote removed)
What does WLS stand for ? what is it ?

https://conwaylife.com/wiki/WinLifeSearch

Please do not quote old posts without necessity.

[TinkerMagus]

(long old quote removed)
What does WLS stand for ? what is it ?

https://conwaylife.com/wiki/WinLifeSearch

Please do not quote old posts without necessity.

Thanks. Ok sorry. When you say "rule = B3/S234c" It means that dead cells are born if they have exactly 3 alive neighbors and alive cells survive if they have exactly 2 or 3 or 4 alive neighbors right ? what does that "c" tell us about the rule though ? I read the wiki for HROT notation but it didn't say anything about adding c0,c1,c2, ... symmetry conditions to the ruleset. Does that mean the neighbors need to have a certain kind of symmetry so that our cell survives ?

[confocaloid]

(long old quote removed)
What does WLS stand for ? what is it ?

https://conwaylife.com/wiki/WinLifeSearch

Please do not quote old posts without necessity.

Thanks. Ok sorry. When you say "rule = B3/S234c" It means that dead cells are born if they have exactly 3 alive neighbors and alive cells survive if they have exactly 2 or 3 or 4 alive neighbors right ? what does that "c" tell us about the rule though ? I read the wiki for HROT notation but it didn't say anything about adding c0,c1,c2, ... symmetry conditions to the ruleset. Does that mean the neighbors need to have a certain kind of symmetry so that our cell survives ?

Sounds like you can learn about things yourself faster than other people can possibly answer your questions.

Again, the post you quoted does not contain 'rule = B3/S234c' so I'm not quite sure why you quoted that. Please do not quote posts unless the quote is needed to understand your post.

For your question, see Hensel notation. But you could get the same information yourself by searching the forum and/or the wiki.

Specifically, "S4c" is an abbreviation for the isotropic survival condition that can be read "an alive cell survives in the next generation if it has exactly four alive neighbours, all of which are diagonal neighbours". Correspondingly, the rulestring "B3/S234c" describes the two-state isotropic rule on the square tiling, with the following conditions:
o a dead cell is born when it has three alive neighbours (B3)
o an alive cell survives when it has two or three alive neighbours (S2, S3)
o an alive cell survives when it has four diagonal alive neighbours and zero orthogonal alive neighbours (S4c)

[TYCF]

what does C1 mean in here ? b38s23/C1

The post you quoted didn't contain 'b38s23/C1' (although the signature below that post did, so I take it you wanted to quote that part).

The 'C1' in 'b38s23/C1' stands for an apgsearch symmetry which means "16x16 asymmetric pseudorandom soups". See Apgsearch#Higher_symmetries and Catagolue#Results_in_Conway's_Game_of_Life for more details.

You can find it in LifeWiki.

That does not answer the question. LifeWiki has lots of articles and other pages and saying "LifeWIki" without giving a specific link is not helpful.

Sorry. https://conwaylife.com/wiki/C1#C1

[Mathemagician314]

Does this qualify as a replicator? And if not, what kind of infinite growth is this?

Code: Select all

x = 4, y = 4, rule = B2en3eijy4-ekny5kq6-c7/S1c2ik3-ny4-aitw5a6-en78
b2o$o2bo$o2bo$b2o!