Conway's Game of Life is something I stumbled upon while browsing the internet, and it led me down a fascinating rabbit hole. It was created by mathematician John Conway, who spent 18 months of his lunch breaks developing the rules behind this deceptively simple yet incredibly complex system. He named it "Life" because the rules are simple, but the outcomes can be surprisingly intricate and unpredictable.
The game was inspired by John von Neumann, a mathematician who pioneered the modern computer. He also theorised about self-replicating machines. Von Neumann speculated about how humans could colonise other planets, like Mars. Instead of sending resources repeatedly, he envisioned sending machines capable of reproducing themselves. These machines could potentially extract iron oxide from Mars’s surface, use it to construct more machines, and produce oxygen as a by-product for creating an atmosphere.
Conway took this concept of self-replication and applied it to his game. He designed the Game of Life on a Go board, as computers were not widely accessible at the time. The game’s simplicity is its brilliance: cells on a grid live, die, or reproduce based on a few basic rules. Despite the simplicity of the rules, the patterns that emerge are often complex and beautiful.
Certain patterns in the game exhibit unique characteristics. For instance, "gliders" move across the grid, while some patterns remain stable or oscillate predictably. Others eventually die out after several iterations. What’s truly captivating is that even with such simple rules, the outcomes are unpredictable and often mesmerising.
Conway’s work gained widespread attention after an article about the Game of Life was published in Scientific American. The article received more letters than any other the magazine had ever published, and to this day, the Game of Life continues to captivate mathematicians, programmers, and enthusiasts alike. People have even built entire computers within the game’s framework, demonstrating its incredible depth and potential.
When I came across the Game of Life, I had only been experimenting with C for a couple of days and was eager to find a project that would be both enjoyable and challenging. The concept of the game immediately caught my attention, and I set myself the task of implementing it in C. It was a great way to push myself, and after some effort, I successfully brought it to life. The experience was as rewarding as it was educational, further fuelling my interest in programming. You can find it on my GitHub
The Game of Life is a testament to how simple ideas can lead to profound discoveries and endless exploration. It’s a reminder that beauty often lies in simplicity, and even the smallest rules can yield infinite complexity.
The Glider Pattern (iterations 1, 14, 24, 41)
The Pulsar Pattern (repeats every 3 iterations)
