>>> Cellular Automata

CellularAutomata is a basic cellular automata editor and explorer I originally wrote in late July 2011.

The application is written in C++ and uses the Windows Console API for display and input.

The executable is unusually small because it uses WCRT 1.16 instead of the normal Visual C++ standard libraries.

Downloads

Executable
Source Code

Usage

Specify cellular automata rules on the command line:

CellularAutomata.exe 23/3

Rules

The application supports several formats for cellular automata rules.

Standard Format

The standard format is a string of numbers separated by slashes in the form:

 <survival>/<birth>[/<count>]

The <survival> and <birth> fields list neighbor counts (between 0 and 8) that cause a cell to survive and be born, respectively. The <count> field specifies the total state count. The default state count is 2.

Conway's Game of Life, where a cell survives if it has 2 or 3 neighbors and is born if it has 3 neighbors, is:

23/3

Alternate Format

The alternate format uses B, S, and C prefixes followed by numbers. The prefixes can be in any order and groups can be run together or separated by non-whitespace characters. If surrounded by quotes, they can be separated by whitespace.

• S - list neighbor counts (between 0 and 8) that cause a cell to survive
• B - list neighbor counts (between 0 and 8) that cause a cell to be born
• C - specify the total state count

B3S23, S23B3, B3/S23, S23/B3, "B3 S23", "S23 B3" are equivalent and produce the same result.

Rule Table

A rule table specifies the next state for each count of neighbors in state 1.

R<state>:<next0>,<next1>,<next2>,<next3>,<next4>,<next5>,<next6>,<next7>,<next8>

The rule table for Wireworld is:

R1:2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2/R2:3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3/R3:3,1,1,3,3,3,3,3,3

Controls

Keys

• Escape - quit
• Up Arrow - increase simulation rate
• Down Arrow - decrease simulation rate
• Space - single simulation step
• Enter - toggle between run and edit
• Insert - fill all cells
• Delete - clear all cells
• 1-9,0 - select draw state
• F1-F10 - random fill pattern (inverted while holding Shift)

Mouse

• Left Button - draw cell state
• Right Button - clear cell state

Rules

Classic Rules

Life-Like Rules

From http://www.mirekw.com/ca/rullex_life.html

Generations/Decay Rules

From http://www.mirekw.com/ca/rullex_gene.html

Rules Tables

From http://psoup.math.wisc.edu/mcell/rullex_rtab.html