More Patterns

http://www.network54.com/Forum/178387/message/1206283824/Conway%27s+Game+of+Life+--+Reads+input+from+File

Here is a link to a version that reads input from a file.

<img src="http://www.math.com/images/wonders/life/glider.gif">

Glider -- moves diagonally across the screen

<img src="http://www.math.com/images/wonders/life/queen.gif">

First it moves to the right, but after a few steps, it produces the still life called a beehive and turns back to the left. Then it produces another beehive to its left and turns right again. Conway called this pattern the queen bee shuttle for this reason.

Unfortunately, the next time around, it crashes into the first beehive it created. But we can get rid of unwanted beehives using a block:

<img src="http://www.math.com/images/wonders/life/killbeehive.gif">

By putting a block on either side of the queen bee, we can cause it to shuttle back and forth indefinitely. This is a period-30 oscillator, since the shuttle moves for 15 steps in each direction.

<img src="http://www.math.com/images/wonders/life/penta.gif">

This becomes a period-15 oscillator.

<img src="http://www.math.com/images/wonders/life/prepuls.gif">

This becomes a pulsar, or 3-period oscillator.