Systematic nomenclature for a certain class of still lifes

[Rhombic]

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x = 29, y = 53, rule = B3/S23
21b2o2b2o$10b2o8bobo2bobo$10b2o8bo2b2o2bo$19b2o6b2o3$21b2o$7b2ob2o8bob
o4b2o$7b2ob2o8bo2b2o2bo$19b2o4bobo$25b2o5$21b2o2b2o$4b2ob2ob2o8bobo2bo
2bo$4b2ob2ob2o8bo2b2o2b2o$19b2o3$21b2o$b2ob2ob2ob2o8bobo$b2ob2ob2ob2o
8bo2b2o2b2o$19b2o4bo2bo$25b2o5$10bo10b2o2b2obo$9bobo8bobo2bob2o$9bobo
8bo2b2o$10bo8b2o3$7bo13b2o$6bobob2o8bobo$6bobob2o8bo2b2o$7bo11b2o4bob
2o$25b2obo3$4bo16b2o2b2o$3bobob2ob2o7bo2bo2bo2bo$3bobob2ob2o7b2o2b2o2b
2o$4bo2$21b2o$bo17bo2bo$obob2ob2ob2o7b2o2b2o2b2o$obob2ob2ob2o13bo2bo$b
o23b2o!

Here are some of the simplest examples, capping a domino with eater, snake or aircraft carrier (obviously, caps such as long snake, long long snake and so on are totally possible, as well as substituted eaters).

Now, as you can see, they follow a very trivial pattern and the outside is there mainly to stabilise the middle.
I personally find it an absolutely crazy endeavour to name with "fancy" names this massive class of still lifes: it is just totally impractical and, even accounting for a "long, long, long" style naming, the variations -based on what caps you have- are so many that there is no reason to do it like that.

My proposal, although (I shall insist) the main intention is to get a rational naming system regardless of whether it is mine or not, is based on one found in chemistry.

• If the two caps are on the same side of the domino, "cis" will be the prefix. Otherwise, "trans" will be the prefix.
  The next part is the name of the two caps* in alphabetical order or, in the case that they are the same, the name will be preceded by "di"
  Finally, the name of the middle structure will be added

* for long-style names, the longs will be reduced to an l for brevity, e.g. long, long snake: llsnake

Naming of my examples, as a test:
1. cis-dieaterdomino
2. trans-dieaterdomino
3. cis-carriereaterdomino [or cis-(carrier,eater)domino]
4. trans-carriereaterdomino
5. cis-eatersnakedomino
6. trans-eatersnakedomino
7. cis-dicarrierdomino
8. trans-dicarrierdomino

The endless amount of still life thus conceived can be easily named in an unambiguous way.

EDIT: for pragmatism, check, with extended siamese carriers, trans-dissssssssssssssscarrierdomino, or alternatively trans-di15scarrierdomino:

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x = 100, y = 31, rule = B3/S23
2o$o2b2o$2b2o2b2o$5b2o2b2o$8b2o2b2o$11b2o2b2o$14b2o2b2o$17b2o2b2o$20b
2o2b2o$23b2o2b2o$26b2o2b2o$29b2o2b2o$32b2o2b2o$35b2o2b2o10b2o$38b2o2b
2o7bo2b2o$41b2o2b2o2b2o2b2o2b2o$44b2o2bo7b2o2b2o$47b2o10b2o2b2o$62b2o
2b2o$65b2o2b2o$68b2o2b2o$71b2o2b2o$74b2o2b2o$77b2o2b2o$80b2o2b2o$83b2o
2b2o$86b2o2b2o$89b2o2b2o$92b2o2b2o$95b2o2bo$98b2o!

[mniemiec]

My proposal, although (I shall insist) the main intention is to get a rational naming system regardless of whether it is mine or not, is based on one found in chemistry.

That is a good place to start. Most of the initial work on enumerating, naming, and synthesizing still-lifes was done by Dave Buckingham, who was himself a chemistry major. I've tried to continue his basic ideas, while making a few additions and alterations.

One slight difference is the use of "up" and "down", as opposed to "cis" and "trans" - I tend to use "up" and "down" to indicate parity of two pieces connecting at a bonding site, and "cis" and "trans" for different bonding sites on the same piece, as both of these can happen simultaneously. For example:

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#C up trans carrier on table, down trans carrier on table,
#C up cis carrier on table, down cis carrier on table
x = 34, y = 7, rule = B3/S23
obbo6bobbo6bobbo6bobbo$4o6b4o6b4o6b4o$$oo8boo8boo8boo$o10bo8bobbo4bobb
o$bbo6bo12boo4boo$boo6boo!

If the two caps are on the same side of the domino, "cis" will be the prefix. Otherwise, "trans" will be the prefix.

That is pretty much the system that is currently in use.

The next part is the name of the two caps* in alphabetical order or, in the case that they are the same, the name will be preceded by "di"
Finally, the name of the middle structure will be added

Alphabetic may be easier for disambiguation purposes, although it can make very similar structures have very dissimilar names due merely to accidents of linguistics, e.g. (say) chlorohydroxymethane vs. hydroxyiodomethane.

1. cis-dieaterdomino

In this case, the domino is listed at the end of the name, where it's convenient to add something, even though that's unlikely to happen physically. Meanwhile, it's possible to add things to both eaters, and while one is conveniently at an end of the name, the other is not (e.g. it's easier to compose a name ...+eater+domino+eater+... than ...+eater, ...+eater+domino without having to use parentheses). Of course, this problem will alway tend to get more complicated as patterns get larger, which is an inevitable shortcoming of using a one-dimensional notation to describe two-dimensional objects.

The endless amount of still life thus conceived can be easily named in an unambiguous way.

The number of still lifes you can name with a name of length n increases as O(e^n), while the number of still lifes of size n increases as O(e^n^2).

[Apple Bottom]

I like the idea of systematically naming patterns and having clear rules establishing, unambiguously, a given pattern's preferred (systematic) name, but re: this:

The endless amount of still life thus conceived can be easily named in an unambiguous way.

I'd also like to add that it's not necessary to name ALL still lifes; we already have apgcodes for that. For systematic names I think a balance needs to be struck between being able to name a large number of objects on one hand, and not making the names of (reasonably small, common) objects overly complex.

In other words: let's optimize for the common case, and use apgcodes for the general case.

[PHPBB12345]

Cis-mirrored R-bee:

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x = 7, y = 4, rule = B3/S23
bo3bo$obobobo$obobobo$b2ob2o!

Trans-mirrored R-bee:

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x = 7, y = 5, rule = B3/S23
bo$obob2o$obobobo$b2obobo$5bo!

Shift-mirrored R-bee:

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x = 7, y = 6, rule = B3/S23
bo$obo$obo2bo$b2obobo$4bobo$4b2o!

Cis-rotated R-bee:

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x = 7, y = 5, rule = B3/S23
4b2o$bo2bobo$obobobo$obo2bo$b2o!

Trans-rotated R-bee:

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x = 7, y = 7, rule = B3/S23
bo$obo$obo$b2ob2o$4bobo$4bobo$5bo!

[Gamedziner]

Shift-mirrored R-bee:

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x = 7, y = 6, rule = B3/S23V
bo$obo$obo2bo$b2obobo$4bobo$4b2o!

You added a "V" in the code.