

Show HN: My weekend project, a graphics/cellular automata playground - daeken
http://demoseen.com/langton.html

======
daeken
This is a quick, dirty hack I wrote up using JS. It's based on Langton's ant,
but adds a lot of new, fun stuff. You can do all sorts of interesting things
with it -- a command reference is included. The "docs" were written in 5
minutes, so feel free to ask for clarification. Enjoy!

One of my favorites:
[http://demoseen.com/langton.html#+.............................](http://demoseen.com/langton.html#+.......................................................................).

~~~
Maciek416
This is awesome. I'd love to add color generation options.

Here's my favorite so far:

<http://demoseen.com/langton.html#*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/...>.

[EDIT: and its cousin:
[http://demoseen.com/langton.html#*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/....+-+...](http://demoseen.com/langton.html#*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/....+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-)
]

~~~
daeken
I've been thinking about color stuff, but just can't come up with how to
really do it. However, I think sub-45-degree turning is gonna happen soon.
Probably 15-degree to start, and see what can happen there. 45 degree turns do
provide some fun stuff, though...

Edit: Just made a small change that will make things look prettier, though. If
you have the command string XYZW, the command string XYZWXYZW is 100%
equivalent, except for the shading (due to the cell values looping around). So
when you put in a command string, it's automagickly extended to > 64 bytes
now, guaranteeing smooth shading.

~~~
Maciek416
Perhaps a given automaton could be told to open a bucket of paint and then
have that paint expend itself over time (drop in color intensity, increase in
opacity, or whatever).

~~~
daeken
Oh nice, I quite like that. I'll try it out. Thanks!

Btw, just implemented yet another new feature: the '@' command is an ant bomb.
If there are multiple ants in play, @ kills the one that triggers it. That
lets you fork without completely annihilating your system.

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solipsist
Awesome! I love the ease in which you can send other people your creations
using the urls. I wonder if anyone would be up for developing this same type
of project, but centered around Conway's Game of Life instead (one of my
favorite cellular automata).

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topherjaynes
My favorite:
[http://demoseen.com/langton.html#*/*/.......*/*/*/*/...........](http://demoseen.com/langton.html#*/*/.......*/*/*/*/...........*/*/*/!*/....+-+-+-+-!+-+-+!-+-+-+-!..).

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wlievens
Nice. I like the "organic" feel of the images you get.

[http://demoseen.com/langton.html#+/.<..<....++.........](http://demoseen.com/langton.html#+/.<..<....++......<....<....+..+).

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Wilduck
Tiny circles:
[http://demoseen.com/langton.html#/<./<..](http://demoseen.com/langton.html#/<./<..).

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nitefly
I love it! How about the addition of a stop button?

~~~
daeken
Done, thanks!

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joshu
ideas:

allow number suffixes to mean a repeat of the previous token.

.6 would be equal to ......

also, allow the ant bomb with a number to only allow that many ants. @4 means
kill this ant if there are more than four.

maybe allow subgrouping?

[+........]12 means 12 of these?

random numbers: .{13,24} means between 13 and 24 of .?

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chaosfox
awesome, I made a virus:
[http://demoseen.com/langton.html#+>$!-=](http://demoseen.com/langton.html#+>$!-=)

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shadowpwner
It's beautiful.

