ConwayLife.com

I have already done a thread for this, but since no one expressed interest, I figured that I should make another.

Dave Greene, on his userpage, created a whole list of proposed books, which I imagine are sequels to Johnston et al.

However, I believe that we should create a book on OCA. The OCA rulespace is incredibly vast, and I don't think anyone could be expected to be even reasonably competent in all of it.

Which areas are you competent in and which chapters can you write for this hypothetical book? Any ideas are accepted!

If you express interest in writing this book, please like this post.



EDIT: I think I am able to write the LtL non-Moore sections (including rules such as Factorio, Coexistence, and Hash). Also, can dvgrn set up a new private forum for all of us who have expressed interest?

I don't really know what would work best.

One possibility is a book that is essentially a pattern collection, with one pattern per page. (There are collections of visual proofs.)
Pick a rulespace (e.g. some rulespace within 2-state R1 Moore isotropic rules, or some rulespace within LtL/HROT rules, or hexagonal rules, or Generations, or some kind of multistate rules). Pick a few patterns (objects/constructions/stamp collections) from rules from that rulespace, to show how it looks and feels like. Put each pattern with added comments/brief description on a separate page. Lather rinse repeat.

confocaloid wrote: November 6th, 2023, 7:26 am [...] a collection of articles on various topics. This could be in the spirit of Game of Life News:
Sprouts and parasites (2011-01-07)
New p5 Herschel technology (2008-02-01)
Period 16284 Agar (2006-07-15)

I am interested. I work mostly with Moore and range-3 cross rules.

HerscheltheHerschel wrote: December 24th, 2023, 6:27 am I am interested. I work mostly with Moore and range-3 cross rules.

Can you please elaborate on this? What types of patterns/rulespaces do you explore?

H. H. P. M. P. Cole wrote: December 26th, 2023, 2:10 am

HerscheltheHerschel wrote: December 24th, 2023, 6:27 am I am interested. I work mostly with Moore and range-3 cross rules.

Can you please elaborate on this? What types of patterns/rulespaces do you explore?

I mainly explore methuselahs and infinite growth. I focus mostly on Life, but I also play with other Life-like rules. For R3 cross, I explore Factorio.

HerscheltheHerschel wrote: December 26th, 2023, 4:44 am I mainly explore methuselahs and infinite growth. I focus mostly on Life, but I also play with other Life-like rules. For R3 cross, I explore Factorio.

So, am I right that you can write the chapters on methuselae, guns, puffers, and Life-like rules? If so, which Life-like rules are you interested in?

H. H. P. M. P. Cole wrote: December 26th, 2023, 4:57 am

HerscheltheHerschel wrote: December 26th, 2023, 4:44 am I mainly explore methuselahs and infinite growth. I focus mostly on Life, but I also play with other Life-like rules. For R3 cross, I explore Factorio.

So, am I right that you can write the chapters on methuselae, guns, puffers, and Life-like rules? If so, which Life-like rules are you interested in?

Yes.
I am interested mostly in dense and/or borderline-explosive Life-like rules, as well as somewhat explosive rules.

I'm interested in this. I concentrate on INT (particularly circuitry in INT) and enjoy circuitry with easy or usable technology (Dominoplex, Duck and Frog, Snowflakes, Life, Traffic Flow, etc). I especially like self-constructing spaceships and other UC-based tech.

Para wrote: January 6th, 2024, 1:38 pm I'm interested in this. I concentrate on INT (particularly circuitry in INT) and enjoy circuitry with easy or usable technology (Dominoplex, Duck and Frog, Snowflakes, Life, Traffic Flow, etc). I especially like self-constructing spaceships and other UC-based tech.

Whatever you said sounds great!

So far:
- Me: LtL non-Moore
- HerscheltheHerschel: Methuselae, infinite-growth, Life-like rules, Factorio
- Para: engineering-friendly rules



Proposed outline so far:

Part 1: Rulegolfing
- How to rulegolf (explanation of different rulespaces)
- Rulegolfing software (e.g., EPE)
- Methuselae
- ???

Part 2: Rules
- Life-Like rules (which rules?)
- INT rules (which rules?)
- Engineering-friendly rules
- Larger than Life
- ???

If you have any ideas for other chapters, let me know!

Why is this in General Discussion? Shouldn't it be in OCA?

(btw I usually do rulegolfing INT rules and trying to find cool oscillators)

I like experimenting with INT rules as well, and also storing information in OCAs (e.g. memory cells); however I certainly don’t have the experience to help write something like this. I do think this is a really cool idea though, and I’d love to help where I can! Since it seems likely that INT rules (including outer-totalistic rules) will be important, I suggest the following outline for INT rules (but take it all with a grain of salt):

1. Life and it’s variants
- Life
- Outer-totalistic life variants (aka HighLife, DryLife, Pedestrian Life, etc.)
- INT Life Variants (aka tLife and its variants, etc.)
2. Computing Rules
3. Rules with complex/interesting dynamics
4. Rules notable due to one or a few interesting objects
- (this includes many ships from the 5S project)
5. Exploding yet notable rules
6. Strobing rules
7. Other notable or heavily explored rules
8. A collection of tens to hundreds of rules that were briefly explored which have a few interesting objects, where each rules gets something like a paragraph

Some rules might fit into multiple categories, so put them in the one you think makes the most sense. Sorry if any of that seems vague, and again, feel free to rearrange or change any of that if you think it’s viable for use.

For multistate rules, I propose these chapters:
Part 1: Learning ruletables
- 2-state OT
- 2-state INT
- 2-state NI (Non-Isotropic)
Part 2: 3-state rules
- 3-state OT
- 3-state INT
- Computations
Part 3: Multistate rules
- Generations
- Banks I,II,III,IV
- Codd's CA / Devore
- B-Univ
- JVN29 & variants