CELLULAR_AUTOMATON
Demonstrate 1D Cellular Automaton Rule 30

CELLULAR_AUTOMATON is a C++ program which demonstrates the behavior of the 1D Cellular Automaton rule #30.

This program carries out iterations of the 1D cellular automaton known as rule 30.

Given an initial linear array of 0's and 1's, rule 30 produces a new array using transformations based on each value and the value of its left and right neighbors, as follows:

      111  110  101  100  011  010  001  000
       V    V    V    V    V    V    V    V
       0    0    0    1    1    1    1    0     
      

For instance, if the current values of X(4), X(5) and X(6) are 0, 1 and 1, respectively, then the new value of X(5) will be 1.

The first and last entries of the array must be treated specially, since they don't have a left or right neighbor. One simple treatment is to assume that there are phantom neighbors whose values are both 0. Another is to enforce periodic boundary conditions.

Licensing:

The computer code and data files described and made available on this web page are distributed under the GNU LGPL license.

Languages:

CELLULAR_AUTOMATON is available in a C version and a C++ version and a FORTRAN77 version and a FORTRAN90 version and a MATLAB version.

Related Data and Programs:

LIFE_OPENGL, a C++ program which uses OpenGL to display the evolution of John Conway's Game of Life, by Simon Green.

Reference:

1. Stephen Wolfram,
   A New Kind of Science,
   Wolfram Media, 2002,
   ISBN13: 978-1579550080,
   LC: QA267.5.C45.W67.

Source Code:

• cellular_automaton.cpp, the source code.
• cellular_automaton.sh, BASH commands to compile the source code.

Examples and Tests:

• cellular_automaton_output.txt, the output file.

List of Routines:

• MAIN is the main program for CELLULAR_AUTOMATON.
• TIMESTAMP prints the current YMDHMS date as a time stamp.

You can go up one level to the C++ source codes.