Conway's Game of Life

Tested On
Modes of Operation
Usage
Invoke Usage
Demo

Tested on

Visual Studio 2019 developer console, v16.11.34
WSL Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS, gcc 11.4.0

Modes of Operation

Console scroll output

This mode simply scrolls the console with print out of each generation in the grid. Bigger the grid, more scroll. Compile as follows:

# bare minimum parameters to compile in POSIX
gcc src/interview.c src/gol.c -Iinc -o gol

# bare minimum parameters to compile in WINDOWS
cl src\interview.c src\gol.c /Iinc /Fe:gol.exe

Console constant refresh

This mode refreshes the console so that the output of each generation within its grid stays in the same place. Compile as follows:

# render the output inplace in POSIX
gcc src/interview.c src/gol.c -Iinc -o gol -DREFRESH_RATE=5 -DSTEPS=1000 -DRENDER_INPLACE

# render the output inplace in WINDOWS
cl src\interview.c src\gol.c /Iinc /Fe:gol.exe /DREFRESH_RATE=5 /DSTEPS=1000 /DRENDER_INPLACE

Usage

Supports 4 modes of output, 3 of which are stable outputs for testing purpose. And seed value for random number generator 12345 only affects the RANDOM mode.

# various options to start the game in POSIX
./gol        # default is RANDOM, default seed is time(NULL)
./gol RANDOM #./gol RANDOM 12345
./gol bLiNkEr
./gol toad
./gol BEACON

You can also use the -DSIMULATION_S or SIMULATION_S parameter when compiling to set the amount of time to simulate the game. It overrides -DSTEPS or STEPS preprocessor switch (macro). This was supposed to be a simple project so I kept the macro switches as such, rather than making them part of the command-line arguments.

Invoke Usage

./gol -h #./gol --help
Usage:
        ./gol <optional pattern : [RANDOM, bLiNkEr, toad, BEACON] > <optional seed : num>
        Seed always comes after pattern. Need to provide pattern if providing seed. RANDOM is default

Demo

# This is also the contents of the run_random_stable.sh script
./gol RANDOM 1713646168

Check the output for a toroidal grid behaviour:

Output

RANDOM
seed 1713646168
. . X . X . . X
X . X . X X X .
. . . X X . . .
X X X . X X X X
X . X . . X . X
X X X . X . X X
. X . . . X . X
. X X X . . X .

X . . . X . . X
. X X . . . X X
. . . . . . . .
. . X . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . X X X . . .
. . . . X X . .
. X . X X X X X

. . . . X . . .
. X . . . . X X
. X X . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . X . . . . .
. . . X X X . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . X . . . X

X . . . . . X X
X X X . . . . .
X X X . . . . .
. X X . . . . .
. . . X X . . .
. . . X X . . .
. . . X . . . .
. . . . . . . .

X . . . . . . X
. . X . . . . .
. . . X . . . .
X . . . . . . .
. . . . X . . .
. . X . . . . .
. . . X X . . .
. . . . . . . X

X . . . . . . X
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. . . . X . . .
. . . X . . . .
X . . . . . . X

X . . . . . . X
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X . . . . . . X

X . . . . . . X
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X . . . . . . X

X . . . . . . X
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X . . . . . . X

C++ Implementation

If you want a C++17 implementation, switch to the cpp branch and launch with the cmake system

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make
./gol

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