Game of Life (cellular automaton)

FEATURES:

• variable grid size
• option to draw a grid at lower resolutions
• simulation display with zoom functionality
• set initial generation at random or draw your own initial generation
• special initial generation: glider gun (can be positioned on simulation display) and ticker (programmable text)
• option to fade out previous generations
• option to colorize the age of living cells
• choose between an infinite and a finite grid
• set simulation speed between 0x (next generation manual) and 100x and change the value during runtime

DESCRIPTION:

"The Game of Life [...] is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970.

[...]

The universe of the Game of Life is an infinite two-dimensional orthogonal grid of square cells, each of which is in one of two possible states, alive or dead. Every cell interacts with its eight neighbours, which are the cells that are horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent. At each step in time, the following transitions occur:

• Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by under-population.
• Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
• Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overcrowding.
• Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.

The initial pattern constitutes the seed of the system. The first generation is created by applying the above rules simultaneously to every cell in the seed—births and deaths occur simultaneously, and the discrete moment at which this happens is sometimes called a tick (in other words, each generation is a pure function of the preceding one). The rules continue to be applied repeatedly to create further generations."

Source of description: wikipedia.org