Caterer

Caterer
2bo5b$o3b4o$o3bo3b$o7b$3bo4b$b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 GPS 2 ]]
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Pattern type	Oscillator
Number of cells	12
Bounding box	9 × 6
Frequency class	32.0
Period	3 (mod: 3)
Heat	14.7
Volatility	0.88 | 0.88
Kinetic symmetry	n
Discovered by	Dean Hickerson
Year of discovery	1989
Rules Outer-totalistic rules B3/S23 – B378/S2378 # of rules 24 = 16 Isotropic rules B3-ky/S2-n3air – B34-anz5-ai6-a78/S234-ajr5-inr6-ck78
Glider synthesis Fewest gliders 5 Catagolue-generated RLE synthesis Uploaded synthesis RLE caterer_synth.rle
Pattern files Plaintext caterer.cells RLE caterer.rle
Identifiers apgcode xp3_4hh186z07 Pentadecathlon ID 12P3.1

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Caterer is a period-3 oscillator found by Dean Hickerson on August 4, 1989. Its rotor is similar to that of jam. In terms of its minimum population of 12 cells this is the smallest period 3 oscillator, and tied with fox and the two isomers of beacon on table, namely Cis-beacon on table and Trans-beacon on table, as the smallest wholly asymmetric oscillator.

More generally, any oscillator which serves up a bit in the same manner, such as T-nosed p4 and T-nosed p6, may be referred to as a caterer.

Commonness

Main article: List of common oscillators

Caterer is about the forty-second most common naturally-occurring oscillator in Achim Flammenkamp's census, being about as frequent as beehive on griddle. On Catagolue, it is the fourth most common period 3 oscillator, being 1.93 times less common than trans-block on candlefrobra but 1.49 times more common than cis-block on candlefrobra.

Glider synthesis

An 11-glider synthesis of the caterer was discovered by Tim Coe; Tanner Jacobi and Chris Cain later found a 7-glider synthesis. Several additional edgy recipes for caterers at different orientations were discovered from asymmetric soups and summarized by GUYTU6J. In September 2022, a 5-glider synthesis was found by iNoMed based on a partial synthesis found by the Open Science Grid in the moog_stdin symmetry.

Domino spark

Placing a sparker in a certain way will change the next two generations in a way that it provides a weak domino spark that can accept a single cell in one of two locations next to it. This has been used in the p42 pre-pulsar shuttle.

x = 59, y = 17, rule = B3/S23 52bo$47b2o2bobo$32b2o13bo3bobo$32bo2bo12b3obob2o$50bobobobo$50bo6bo$ 32bob2o15bob4o$7b3obo15b2o2bobo13b2o4bo$b2o7bobo8b2o4bo4bo8b2o4bo3bobo b2o$3bo7bo11bo7bo11bo9bobo2bo$o8bo4bo5bo7bo2bo8bo7bo4bobob2o$o3bo5b5o 5bo3bo15bo3bo5b2o3bo$o3b4obo10bo3b4o12bo3b4o6b2o$2bo9bo9bo19bo$11b2o2$ 3b3o20b3o14b3o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ GPS 3 THUMBSIZE 2 WIDTH 500 ]] Examples at periods 3, 6, and 9. All three are shown eating a blinker, with the period-3 and period-9 versions using the left contact point and the period-6 version using the right contact point. (click above to open LifeViewer)

See also

• Crown
• Double caterer
• Triple caterer

External links

• Caterer at the Life Lexicon
• Caterer at Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue
• 12P3.1 at Heinrich Koenig's Game of Life Object Catalogs