creating machines in GOL

For general discussion about Conway's Game of Life.
Post Reply
kubuni
Posts: 1
Joined: March 2nd, 2019, 5:15 am

creating machines in GOL

Post by kubuni » March 2nd, 2019, 5:24 am

I still consider myself a newbie with GOL patterns and object creations. I came across this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8unMqSp0bFY I was wondering if there was a tutorial on how patterns interact with one another. I would love to make a basic counter or something like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NDAZ5g4EuU

I would like to start small and try to do more complex things like these.

User avatar
dvgrn
Moderator
Posts: 10565
Joined: May 17th, 2009, 11:00 pm
Location: Madison, WI
Contact:

Re: creating machines in GOL

Post by dvgrn » March 2nd, 2019, 7:19 am

kubuni wrote:I still consider myself a newbie with GOL patterns and object creations. I came across this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8unMqSp0bFY I was wondering if there was a tutorial on how patterns interact with one another. I would love to make a basic counter or something like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NDAZ5g4EuU
There's actually a Life textbook coming along, with step-by-step explanations and end-of-chapter exercises and everything, for building complex mechanisms in Conway's Life. Hopefully it will be done in time for the Martin Gardner Life article's quinquagenary (October 2020) -- but unfortunately it's not quite ready for public release yet!

There actually isn't all that much on pattern-building on the LifeWiki Tutorials page yet. Maybe you could write a beginner's tutorial once you figure out what you want to know -- but by then you won't be a beginner any more, so that doesn't help you now.

People do write walkthroughs for creating various large patterns now and then, but those are usually talking to people who know all the strange jargon already, so might be jumping in too much at the deep end. On the other hand, if you just start looking up the terms in the LifeWiki, you'll figure it all out eventually.

The usual thing to do is to download Golly, find the patterns you're most interested in in the pattern collection, check the comments for the pattern ("i" keyboard shortcut), and then start experimenting until you understand how the pieces work. For constructions like Coban's computer, maybe start with Patterns/Life/Signal-Circuitry/p30racetrack.rle and p46-racetrack.rle.

User avatar
pcallahan
Posts: 844
Joined: April 26th, 2013, 1:04 pm

Re: creating machines in GOL

Post by pcallahan » March 9th, 2019, 1:59 pm

dvgrn wrote: There's actually a Life textbook coming along, with step-by-step explanations and end-of-chapter exercises and everything, for building complex mechanisms in Conway's Life. Hopefully it will be done in time for the Martin Gardner Life article's quinquagenary (October 2020) -- but unfortunately it's not quite ready for public release yet!
There is?! Who's writing it? Does it have a publisher and intended audience? This sounds really cool, and I am surprised it did not come up in the "Broader Audience for CA" discussion. I would like to know more about this.

User avatar
otismo
Posts: 1200
Joined: August 18th, 2010, 1:41 pm
Location: Florida
Contact:

Re: creating machines in GOL

Post by otismo » November 27th, 2019, 3:40 pm

a textbook.

when what we need is a comic book, maybe an adventure comic book.

promotion : expand the audience.

But I want that Textbook.

We need to be ready for really big screen TV.
Last edited by otismo on March 23rd, 2020, 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"One picture is worth 1000 words; but one thousand words, carefully crafted, can paint an infinite number of pictures."
- autonomic writing
forFUN : http://viropet.com
Art Gallery : http://cgolart.com
Video WebSite : http://conway.life

Hunting
Posts: 4396
Joined: September 11th, 2017, 2:54 am

Re: creating machines in GOL

Post by Hunting » March 23rd, 2020, 10:20 am

Meanwhile, I could write something on the LifeWiki tutorial... In case that some people don't have enough patience.

And I'm still a newbie on pattern construction.
otismo wrote:
November 27th, 2019, 3:40 pm
a textbook.

when what we need is a comic book, maybe an adventure comic book.
Sure, I had the idea some while ago - but that would not cover most part of the CGoL world. For example, what happens when it past through a glider splitter? What happens when it is transformed into a Herschel? What happens when it joins a synthesis? What happens when it crashes into something else? Those are ill-defined.

User avatar
otismo
Posts: 1200
Joined: August 18th, 2010, 1:41 pm
Location: Florida
Contact:

Re: creating machines in GOL

Post by otismo » March 23rd, 2020, 4:36 pm

they could all be defined as adventures in an adventure comic book

America was not named after its discoverer

it was named after its Promoter
"One picture is worth 1000 words; but one thousand words, carefully crafted, can paint an infinite number of pictures."
- autonomic writing
forFUN : http://viropet.com
Art Gallery : http://cgolart.com
Video WebSite : http://conway.life

Post Reply