Larger than Life

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Larger than Life (abbreviated as LTL or LtL) is an algorithm that supports a family of rules with an extendable neighbourhood, as defined by Kellie Michele Evans in her 1996 thesis.

Larger than Life rules are supported by Golly 3.0b1 and onwards, using the following notation, created by Mirek Wójtowicz for MCell:

Rr,Cc,Mm,Ssmin..smax,Bbmin..bmax,Nn

Here:

  • Rr specifies the range (r is from 1 to 50 in Golly; 1 to 10 in MCell).
  • Cc specifies the number of states (c is from 0 to 255 in both Golly and MCell[note 1])
  • Mm specifies if the middle cell is included in the neighborhood count (m is 0 or 1).
  • Ssmin..smax specifies the count limits for a state 1 cell to survive.
  • Bbmin..bmax specifies the count limits for a dead cell to become a birth.
  • Nn specifies the extended neighborhood type (n is M for Moore or N for von Neumann in Golly; NM or NN respectively in MCell).

This diagram shows the extended Moore and von Neumann neighborhoods for range 3:

File:Mooreneighbourhood range3.png File:Vonneumannneighbourhood range3.png

If the number of states (specified after C) is greater than 2, then states 1 and above don't die immediately but gradually decay. Note that state values above 1 are not included in the neighborhood counts and thus play no part in deciding the survival of a state 1 cell, nor the birth of an empty cell. C0 and C1 are equivalent to C2.

Examples

The Patterns/Larger-than-Life folder included with Golly 3.0b1 contains a number of example patterns (mostly from the MCell collection). The following table shows a number of example rules along with their commonly used names:

Rule B/S equivalent Name Remarks
R1,C0,M0,S2..3,B3..3,NM B3/S23 Life the default rule for this algorithm in Golly.
R5,C0,M1,S34..58,B34..45,NM Bugs a chaotic rule by Kellie Evans.
R10,C0,M1,S123..212,B123..170,NM Bugsmovie a chaotic rule by David Griffeath.
R8,C0,M0,S163..223,B74..252,NM Globe an expanding rule by Mirek Wójtowicz.
R1,C0,M1,S1..1,B1..1,NN B1/S0V Gnarl an exploding rule by Kellie Evans.
R4,C0,M1,S41..81,B41..81,NM Majority a stable rule by David Griffeath.
R7,C0,M1,S113..225,B113..225,NM Majorly an expanding rule by David Griffeath.
R10,C255,M1,S2..3,B3..3,NM ModernArt a chaotic rule by Charles A. Rockafellor.
R7,C0,M1,S100..200,B75..170,NM Waffle an expanding rule by Kellie Evans.

Alternative rule notation

Golly also allows rules to be entered using the notation defined by Kellie Evans in her thesis. The range, birth limits and survival limits are specified by five integers separated by commas:

r,bmin,bmax,smin,smax

This notation assumes an extended Moore neighbourhood in which a live middle cell is included in the neighbourhood count (ie. semi-totalistic). For example, Life can be entered as 1,3,3,3,4.

Grid topology and size limits

Unlike Golly's other algorithms, Larger than Life uses a finite universe. The topology can be either a torus or a plane and is specified by appending a suitable suffix to the rule. For example, R5,C0,M1,S34..58,B34..45,NM:T500,40 creates a 500 by 40 torus using the Bugs rule, and 1,3,3,3,4:P300,200 creates a 300 by 200 plane using Life.

The maximum grid size allowed in Golly is 100 million cells. The minimum width and height is twice the range. If a given rule has no suffix, then the grid will be a torus with a default size of 400 by 400 cells.

Note that Golly's canonical version of a Larger than Life rule uses the MCell syntax and always includes a suffix showing the topology and the grid size.

Golly-related trivia

  • It is the first set of rules to have an entirely new algorithm made for it.
    • Andrew had to make it from scratch, that is why it is on a bounded grid (He wanted to "keep it simple")
    • There might be support for infinite grids in the future.

Notes

  1. The documentation for MCell specifies a maximum of 25 states; this is a typo.

References

Cellular Automata rules lexicon: Family: Larger than Life at Mirek Wójtowicz's Cellebration page

Further reading

External links

  • Golly 3.0b1 (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums