The Game of Life is old and simple. It’s nothing but a basic set of rules dictating when a square is occupied or empty. Yet because of its basis on real life, it has become a very powerful example of modelling organisms. It was also the basis for my dissertation on evolutionary computation, so there’s that too.

And now it’s in HTML 5, thanks to Joseph Mansfield, a Computer Science student at the University of York. Whilst the project began with the goal of simply having fun with some of HTML 5s new features, it’s ended up as a fantastic application and a great implementation of Conway’s rules.

These rules are what drives the entire simulation, as Mansfield explains:

• Any living cell with 0 or 1 neighbours dies, as if by underpopulation
• Any living cell with 4 or more neighbours dies, as if by overpopulation
• Any living cell with 2 or 3 neighbours survives, yay
• Any dead cell with 3 or more neighbours becomes alive, as if by reproduction

With just these few simple instructions you can create vast structures, self replicating patterns and even whole computers. For more you should play around on Mansfield’s site and have a read of Wikipedia.

I would suggest we try the age-old PC standard of Doom in HTML5 next, but they’ve already got Quake II working. Who even needs flash any more?

Via: Reddit