Glossary of basic terms
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This page provides very short definitions of a small set of basic terms used in discussing Life and Life patterns.
Types of patterns
- still life
- a non-empty pattern that does not change from one generation to the next
- oscillator
- a pattern that repeats itself after a fixed number of generations (known as its period)
- spaceship
- a finite pattern that moves across the grid of cells and repeats itself after a fixed number of generations
- eater
- any still life or oscillator that can delete junk produced by some reactions without suffering any permanent damage
- catalyst
- any still life or oscillator that has the ability to interact with certain patterns without suffering any permanent damage
- puffer
- a pattern that moves like a spaceship, except that it leaves debris behind
- rake
- a puffer whose debris consists of spaceships
- gun
- a stationary pattern that repeatedly emits spaceships (or rakes) forever
- breeder
- a pattern that exhibits unbounded quadratic growth
- conduit
- an arrangement of still lifes and/or oscillators that move an active object to another location without suffering any permanent damage
- methuselah
- a pattern that takes a large number of generations to stabilize (known as its lifespan) and becomes much larger than its initial configuration at some point during its evolution
- soup
- a pattern made by randomly putting cells in an area.
- synthesis
- a way to make another pattern by crashing spaceships into each other.