Layz Boi wrote: ↑September 30th, 2020, 12:54 am
dvgrn wrote:
The problem I ran into was that when I wanted spaceships to make cameo appearances in the correct decade of the timeline, I had to reserve a lot of empty lanes stretching all the way back to T=0
Can't you just set a time to paste in the ship?
When I started the project, LifeViewer's PASTET wasn't a thing yet. But anyway using PASTET would have permanently limited the pattern to being run only in LifeViewer animations, and I kind of wanted the timeline to be explorable in Golly as well.
Layz Boi wrote: ↑September 30th, 2020, 12:54 am
Yikes! What are these algorithms behind those programs? I don't particularly care for glider synthesis, but exponential time seems kind of ridiculous to my intuition for CGOL, something so... deterministic.
Well, lifesrc/WLS/JLS, and LLS and ikpx and other SAT-solver-based searches, all basically share the unavoidable problem that every time you add one single unknown bit to your search area, you double the number of patterns that can theoretically be placed in that area.
The lifesrc family has a clever set of shortcuts to quickly rule out large subsets of those patterns, and LLS outsources its cleverness to the various SAT solvers and ends up with a somewhat different/similar (delete whichever is inapplicable) set of shortcuts. But in the end, the increase in the number of possibilities is still an exponential function, not a linear one. And that's the cause of the huge underlying problem with the idea of aiming for a Sir Robin synthesis, without first proving out a workable method on spaceships that are a third or a half of Sir Robin's size.
Layz Boi wrote: ↑September 30th, 2020, 12:54 am
Also, would the advancement of software used to look for patterns be worth a mention on the timeline? I know that GoldenRatio mentioned soup searching programs, but what about others that find ships, oscillators, synthesis etc?
The appearance of searchers based on SAT solvers (LLS, ikpx) definitely seems like the beginning of a new Age. Not only was this development responsible for finding Sir Robin, but in the OCA realm it made possible the discovery of really weird and wonderful spaceships with various unlikely properties, which show up primarily on Discord these days:
Code: Select all
x = 27, y = 23, rule = B2c3-cikn4-eijn5-akn6ein7c8/S01e2ei3-cen4-iqy5iknqr6ai7c8
2b24o$2b24o$2b4o2b18o$2b4obob17o$2b4ob2ob16o$2b4obob17o$2b4o2b18o$2b
24o$2b24o$ob6o2b17o$b6obob17o$b5ob2ob17o$b6obob17o$b7o2b17o$b26o$b26o$
b21o2b3o$b20obob3o$b19o4b3o$b20obob3o$b21o2b3o$b26o$b26o!
#C [[ AUTOSTART ZOOM 14 GPS 14 TRACK 3/49 0 ]]
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x = 9, y = 9, rule = B2ae3-acir4-aejqw5-acer6-k78/S02e3-aiq4eirz5-ejk6an
obobobobo2$o7bo2$o3b2o2bo2$o7bo2$obobobobo!
#C [[ AUTOSTART ZOOM 10 GPS 10 TRACK 1/10 0 ]]
Code: Select all
x = 11, y = 9, rule = B2cik3-cikn4ackqty5ejknq6-kn8/S012eik3-aik4-enwy5ajq6acn7
11o$o9bo$o9bo$o3bo5bo$o2bo6bo$o3bo5bo$o9bo$o9bo$11o!
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x = 11, y = 13, rule = B1e2cek3eqy4ejrz5ain6ce7e/S12-c3-aiky4jkw5acr6eik7e
3o$o$o$3o5$3o3bob3o$o5bobo$o4bo2b3o$o3bo5bo$3obo3b3o!
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x = 7, y = 21, rule = B2-ck3cenqy4ceiktz5air6ack7e8/S02eik3ckry4-iw5-enqy6i78
4bo$4b2o$7o$4b2o$4bo10$o$bo$2bo3bo$3bob2o$4b3o$3b4o$2b5o!
Code: Select all
x = 5, y = 4, rule = B3/S23-ijn4a
o2bo$4bo$o3bo$b4o!
Code: Select all
x = 7, y = 7, rule = B2k3-ery4ijkqwy5jr6-ae8/S01e2ck3-cjn4-aqr5-jkny6-an
3bob2o$b3ob2o$o$b3ob2o$3bobo$3bobo$4bo!