Constellation: Difference between revisions
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Life evolves from soup to constellation (as Darwin foresaw long ago.=) |
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{{Glossary}} | |||
Life evolves from [[soup]] to '''constellation'''. | Life evolves from [[soup]] to '''constellation'''. | ||
[[Image:Rpent_final.png|right|thumb|The constellation that results from the [[R-pentomino]] at generation 1103 has 116 cells]] | [[Image:Rpent_final.png|right|thumb|The constellation that results from the [[R-pentomino]] at generation 1103 has 116 cells]] | ||
Revision as of 20:18, 13 March 2014
Life evolves from soup to constellation.
A soup is a random input pattern that can change, move, grow, wither or disappear following the game rules. Beginning with a chosen pattern or with a soup, the final state is either :
- An empty space when every cell died.
- A constellation of still lifes, oscillators and diverging spaceships. A methuselah's lifetime is computed when the number of cells stabilizes as a fixed number, or a periodic one, and no collision may occur.
- Or an infinitely growing pattern (Gosper glider gun which is the simplest case, block-laying switch engine.)
The constellation gets its name from a night sky's observation, where some stars seem to be grouped hapazard and never move : even a shooting star won't rearrange the overall look. The counting of resulting patterns in a given constellation offers little more than statistical information.