Thread for basic questions

[rabbit]

Even though they work in all phases, pseudostable objects mess with the period of the pattern, and are usually not more desirable than truly stable objects, so there's not much point in using them in most cases. The definitions of certain elementary patterns (e.g. true-period guns) rely on the pattern reproducing itself exactly after a certain number of generations, so the phase change would multiply the actual period by a constant.

[I6_I6]

How do I figure out the maximum spaceship speed of an INT rule?
Also, if I edit a post it sometimes says:

Code: Select all

Last edited by <username> on <date>, <time>. Edited <edits> times in total.

But sometimes it doesn't. Why does this happen?

[hotdogPi]

Also, if I edit a post it sometimes says:

Code: Select all

Last edited by <username> on <date>, <time>. Edited <edits> times in total.

But sometimes it doesn't. Why does this happen?

It only counts the edit if it's no longer the most recent post.

[qqd]

Why does the page at gun_41 still have the old pseudo-period gun even though it has been more than 2 years since a true period-41 gun has been discovered?

[hotdogPi]

Why does the page at gun_41 still have the old pseudo-period gun even though it has been more than 2 years since a true period-41 gun has been discovered?

The pseudo gun is smaller. You might want guntrue_41.

[I6_I6]

Can someone give a very detailed explanation about how search programs like LifeSrc and JLS work?

[Neocaridina]

.

[I6_I6]

Can someone give a very detailed explanation about how search programs like LifeSrc and JLS work?

I doubt these are very detailed but:

• JLS
• LifeSrc

I meant the logic behind the searching. The only programming language I know is Python (and a tiny, tiny bit of JS as well I guess) so I don't understand any of the code.

[Neocaridina]

.

[dbell]

Can someone give a very detailed explanation about how search programs like LifeSrc and JLS work?

This is from Dean Hickerson's original posting in 1990 about his search program which is a very brief description of how it works:

-----
I tell the program the desired congruence period T of an object, a
rectangle in which generations 0 to T must fit, and an isometry relating
gen. 0 to gen. T. The program creates a 3D array in which each cell is
either on, off, or unknown; initially everything's unknown except for any
initial conditions which I specify. It then picks an unknown cell, chooses
a value for it, and examines the consequences of its choice, working both
forward and backward. If it runs out of consequences, it picks another
unknown cell and continues. If it finds a contradiction, it backs up to
its most recent choice, reverses it, marks it as a conclusion rather than a
choice, and continues. Eventually it either runs out of unknown cells and
reports that it's found something, or tries to back up past its first
choice and reports that the object doesn't exist.
-----

The full explanation is contained in the ORIGIN file of the lifesrc source on my web page.

BCNU,
-dbell

[b-engine]

Is there a reaction between common objects (excluding blocker) that creates this spark (I dub it "blocker core") and nothing else?

Code: Select all

x = 4, y = 5, rule = B3/S23
o$bo$2bo$o2bo$b2o!

[I6_I6]

This is a bit of a newbie question:
How do B0 rules work? Shouldn't dead cells without neighbors keep flashing on and off? That doesn't happen in LifeViewer or Golly. I'm a bit confused.

[hotdogPi]

This is a bit of a newbie question:
How do B0 rules work? Shouldn't dead cells without neighbors keep flashing on and off? That doesn't happen in LifeViewer or Golly. I'm a bit confused.

They do flash, but to make it easier to view, it visually alternates the entire grid. In odd-numbered generations, off and on are switched.

[muzik]

Certainly this technology currently does not exist, but could knightwave be escorted by two 13c/30 orthogonal spaceships, or two 13c/48 diagonal spaceships?

[muzik]

Are there any stabilizations of squaredance that center on one of the rectangularly-symmetric regions, rather than the chiral square symmetric regions?

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 10, rule = LifeHistory
2.A4.A$2.A4.A$4.2A$2A6.2A$3.A2DA$3.A2DA$2A6.2A$4.2A$2.A4.A$2.A4.A!
[[ PASTET EVERY 2 0 PASTE 2.A4.A3$A8.A3$A8.A3$2.A4.A! 0 0 PASTET EVERY 2 1 PASTE 3.A2.A2$A8.A5$A8.A2$3.A2.A! 0 0 ]]

[I6_I6]

Solifuge has been reduced several times by rephasing components. Could other crawler-based spaceships, such as Waterbear or Caterpillar, be reduced by rephasing?

[WhiteHawk]

What did the very first stable reflector look like?

[glider_rider]

Solifuge has been reduced several times by rephasing components. Could other crawler-based spaceships, such as Waterbear or Caterpillar, be reduced by rephasing?

In terms of minimum population, absolutely yes. In the Caterpillar, for example, the rephasing pi crawlers are packed together as tightly as possible, and a lot of them could definitely be unpacked and have their phases synchronized in order to reduce the population in a specific phase. The question is less 'can this be done', and more 'is it worth manually going through every rephaser in the Caterpillar to optimize it for minimum population when its minimum population will still be around 11000000 or so afterwards anyway'. It was only really worth doing for Solifuge because the ship is already so small and there are very few rephaseable parts (only 4 in the 1414-cell version).

I honestly kind of prefer average population as a metric for the size of periodic patterns anyway. Feels more natural.

[dbell]

What did the very first stable reflector look like?

Dave Greene did a write-up on the oldest stable reflectors in this post:
viewtopic.php?&p=72760#p72760

The earliest stable reflectors work by using a block as bait for a glider. The impact creates an output Herschel and also re-creates the block but also creates an unwanted beehive.

Stable conduits are then used to convert the Herschel into an output glider and another glider to delete the unwanted beehive.

I have extracted the earliest three patterns here for convenience.

Code: Select all

#C SLR-90°-4840
#C Author: Paul Callahan
#C Date: 15 Oct 1996
#C Dimensions: 555x460
#C Repeat time: 4840
x = 555, y = 460, rule = B3/S23
368bo$356bo9b3o$356b3o6bo$350bo8bo5boo$351bo6boo$349b3o4$375bo$373b3o$
372bo$372boo$350boo$350boo6$362boo$362boo$376boo$376boo$380boo$380boo
14$356boo$356bobo$357bo7$352boboo$352boobo$$361boo$361boo6$372boo$372b
o$370bobo$370boo$$354bo$354b3o$357bo$356boo10$388bo8boo$349boo35b3o8bo
$349boo34bo9bobo$385boo8boo3$354boo$354boo$350boo$350boo3$356boo$356b
oo14boo23bo$373bo22bobo$370b3o8boo14bo$370bo11bo$379b3o$359bo19bo$359b
3o$362bo31boo$361boo31bobo$396bo$396boo$378boboo$378boobo$$387boo$387b
oo7$397boo$397bo$395bobo$395boo14$414bo$375boo35b3o$375boo34bo9bo$411b
oo6b3o$418bo$418boo$380boo$380boo$376boo$376boo3$382boo$382boo14boo23b
o$399bo22bobo$396b3o8boo14bo$396bo11bo$405b3o$385bo19bo$385b3o$388bo
31boo$387boo31bobo$422bo$422boo$404boboo$404boobo$$413boo$413boo7$423b
oo$423bo$421bobo$421boo14$440bo$401boo35b3o$401boo34bo9bo$437boo6b3o$
444bo$444boo$406boo$406boo$402boo$402boo3$408boo$408boo14boo23bo$425bo
22bobo$422b3o8boo14bo$422bo11bo$431b3o$411bo19bo$411b3o$414bo31boo$
413boo31bobo$448bo$448boo$430boboo$430boobo$$439boo$439boo7$449boo$
449bo$447bobo$447boo14$466bo$427boo35b3o$427boo34bo9bo$463boo6b3o$470b
o$470boo$432boo$432boo$428boo$428boo3$434boo$434boo14boo23bo$451bo22bo
bo$448b3o8boo14bo$448bo11bo$457b3o$437bo19bo$437b3o$440bo31boo$439boo
31bobo$474bo$474boo$456boboo$456boobo$$465boo$465boo7$475boo$475bo$
473bobo$473boo14$492bo$453boo35b3o$453boo34bo9bo$489boo6b3o$496bo$496b
oo$458boo$458boo$454boo$454boo3$460boo$460boo14boo23bo$477bo22bobo$
474b3o8boo14bo$474bo11bo$483b3o$463bo19bo$463b3o$466bo31boo$465boo31bo
bo$500bo$500boo$482boboo$482boobo$$491boo$491boo7$501boo$501bo$499bobo
$499boo14$518bo$479boo35b3o$479boo34bo9bo$515boo6b3o$522bo$522boo$484b
oo$484boo$480boo$480boo3$486boo$486boo14boo23bo$503bo22bobo$500b3o8boo
14bo$500bo11bo$509b3o$489bo19bo$489b3o$492bo31boo$491boo31bobo$526bo$
526boo$508boboo$508boobo$$517boo$517boo3$44boo$44bo$45bo11bo$44boo9b3o
$54bo472boo$54boo10boo459bo$66bo17boo439bobo$64bobo17bo440boo$64boo19b
o11bo$41boo41boo9b3o$41boo51bo$94boo10boo$106bo17boo$104bobo17bo$104b
oo19bo11bo$81boo41boo9b3o$81boo51bo$134boo10boo$32boo16boo94bo17boo$
32bo18bo92bobo17bo$33b3o12b3o93boo19bo11bo$35bo12bo72boo41boo9b3o366bo
$121boo51bo330boo35b3o$71boo101boo10boo317boo34bo9bo$15boo54bo18boo94b
o17boo335boo6b3o$15boo3boo50b3o16bo92bobo17bo343bo$20boo52bo13b3o93boo
19bo11bo330boo$88bo72boo41boo9b3o292boo$161boo51bo295boo$21boo88boo
101boo10boo278boo$bo12boo5bo89bo18boo94bo17boo260boo$obo11boo6b3o87b3o
16bo92bobo17bo$bo22bo89bo13b3o93boo19bo11bo$128bo72boo41boo9b3o254boo$
201boo51bo257boo14boo23bo$151boo101boo10boo261bo22bobo$151bo18boo94bo
17boo240b3o8boo14bo$152b3o16bo92bobo17bo241bo11bo$154bo13b3o93boo19bo
11bo237b3o$168bo72boo41boo9b3o237bo$241boo51bo$191boo101boo10boo242boo
$191bo18boo94bo17boo224bobo$192b3o16bo92bobo17bo227bo$194bo13b3o93boo
19bo11bo214boo$208bo72boo41boo9b3o196boboo$281boo51bo199boobo$231boo
101boo10boo$231bo18boo94bo17boo177boo$232b3o16bo92bobo17bo178boo$234bo
13b3o93boo19bo11bo$248bo72boo41boo9b3o$321boo51bo$271boo101boo10boo$
271bo18boo94bo17boo$272b3o16bo92bobo17bo$274bo13b3o93boo19bo11bo135boo
$288bo72boo41boo9b3o135bo$361boo51bo136bobo$311boo101boo10boo123boo$
311bo18boo94bo17boo$312b3o16bo92bobo17bo$314bo13b3o93boo19bo11bo$328bo
72boo41boo9b3o$401boo51bo78boo$351boo101boo10boo66bo$351bo18boo94bo17b
oo48bobo$352b3o16bo92bobo17bo50boo$354bo13b3o93boo19bo11bo$368bo72boo
41boo9b3o$441boo51bo$391boo101boo10boo$391bo18boo94bo17boo$392b3o16bo
92bobo17bo6boo$394bo13b3o93boo19bo6bo$408bo72boo41boo6bobo$481boo50boo
$431boo$431bo18boo$432b3o16bo94boo$434bo13b3o95bobo$448bo72boo25bo$
521boo25boo$471boo$471bo18boo$472b3o16bo$474bo13b3o53boo$488bo55bobo$
528boo16bo$511boo16bo16boo$511bo14b3o6bo$512b3o11bo7bobo$514bo20bo!

The next one seems to have been misnamed, and I have fixed it here. (It doesn't have a repeat time of 1680 generations as advertised in the old post.)

Code: Select all

#C SLR-90°-1686
#C Author: Paul Callahan
#C Date: 15 Oct 1996
#C Dimensions: 210x188
#C Repeat time: 1686
x = 188, y = 210, rule = B3/S23
174bo$162bo9b3o$162b3o6bo$156bo8bo5boo$157bo6boo$155b3o4$181bo$179b3o$
178bo$178boo$156boo$156boo6$168boo$168boo$182boo$182boo$186boo$186boo
14$162boo$162bobo$163bo7$158boboo$158boobo$$167boo$167boo7$177boo$177b
o$175bobo$175boo5$157boo$158bo$158bobo$159boo12$160boo15boo$160boo15bo
bo$152boo25bo$153bo25boo$153bobo$154boo5$172boo$172bo$170bobo$170boo
12$152boo15boo$151bobo15boo$151bo25boo$149b3o25bo$148bo26bobo$148boo
25boo5$157boo$158bo$158bobo$159boo$$119boo$112boo5boo$112boo$148boo$
148bo6boo$114boo33bo6bo$114boo32boo6bobo$108boo47boo$108boo$$102boo66b
oo$102bo67bobo$100bobo42boo25bo$100boo43boo25boo4$168boo$168bobo$152b
oo16bo$135boo16bo16boo$105boo28bo14b3o6bo$106bo29b3o11bo7bobo$106bobo
29bo20bo$107boo$$67boo$60boo5boo$60boo$96boo$96bo6boo$62boo33bo6bo$62b
oo32boo6bobo$56boo47boo$56boo$$50boo66boo$50bo67bobo$48bobo42boo25bo$
48boo43boo25boo4$116boo$116bobo$100boo16bo$83boo16bo16boo$53boo28bo14b
3o6bo$54bo29b3o11bo7bobo$54bobo29bo20bo$55boo5$44boo$44bo6boo$45bo6bo$
44boo6bobo$53boo3$66boo$66bobo$41boo25bo$41boo25boo4$64boo$64bobo$48b
oo16bo$31boo16bo16boo$31bo14b3o6bo$32b3o11bo7bobo$34bo20bo4$15boo$15b
oo3boo$20boo3$21boo$bo12boo5bo$obo11boo6b3o$bo22bo!

Code: Select all

#C SLR-90°-894
#C Author: Paul Callahan
#C Date: 16 Oct 1996
#C Dimensions: 120x97
#C Repeat time: 894
x = 97, y = 120, rule = B3/S23
83bo$71bo9b3o$71b3o6bo$65bo8bo5boo$66bo6boo$64b3o4$90bo$88b3o$87bo$87b
oo$65boo$65boo6$77boo$77boo$91boo$91boo$95boo$95boo14$71boo$71bobo$72b
o7$67boboo$67boobo$$76boo$76boo7$86boo$86bo$84bobo$62bo21boo$60b3o$59b
o$59boo$$66boo$67bo$67bobo$40bo27boo$31bo7bobo$31b3o6bo$34bo$33boo6$
26boo25boo$26boo25bo$51bobo6bo8boo15boo$oo49boo7b3o6boo15bobo$oo61bo
24bo$62boo24boo$38boo$29boo6bobo$30bo6bo41bo$29bo6boo39b3o$4boo23boo
45bo$4boo70boo4$40boo$39bobo$39bo$38boo4$83boo$83boo3$33boo$33bobo42b
oo$35bo42boo$35boo45boo$82boo$41boo$41boo$47boo27boo$47boo27boo3$45boo
$45boo5boo$52boo!

BCNU,
-dbell

[I6_I6]

It’s a bit late to be asking this, but in which direction does the unidimensional spaceship travel?

[PK22]

Is there a way to convert a LWSS to a glider using only Spartan still lifes and cheap p4/p8 oscillators?

[qqd]

Is there a way to convert a LWSS to a glider using only Spartan still lifes and cheap p4/p8 oscillators?

There is this p2 killer toad version of the 45-degree_LWSS-to-G which seems to suffice for wherever you need such a Spartan LWSS to G:

Code: Select all

x = 17, y = 22, rule = B3/S23
4bo5bo$4b2o3b2o$4b2o3b2o$5bo3bo6bo$14b3o$13bo$o2bo9b2o$4bo$o3bo$b4o2$
10b2o$9bo2bo$10b2o$2b2o$bobo$bo$2o$13b2o$13bo$14b3o$16bo!

If that does not work or your criteria have to be met as it is given, there is this known Eonian LWSS to beehive with a transparent beehive (which I believe was originally found by Kazyan), but I haven't been successful in finding cheap p4/p8 sparkers to modify the active region so as to produce a glider:

Code: Select all

x = 17, y = 6, rule = B3/S23
10bo$9bobo3b2o$o2bo5bobo2bobo$4bo5bo4bo$o3bo$b4o!

[I6_I6]

How do I post files or images?

[b-engine]

How do I post files or images?

At bottom of the Preview and Submit buttons you can see "Attachments" tab. Click it, then click "Add files".
Optionally, you can click "Place inline" so it appears inline.

[yyh_baboon]

How should I construct a 28c/83 helix in Life(or PedestrianLife)?