Game of Life
This is a problem set. Some of these are easy, others are far more difficult. The purpose of these problems sets are:
- to build your skill applying computational thinking to a problem
- to assess your knowledge and skills of different programming practices
What is this problem set trying to do[edit]
This is example problem set. In this example we are learning about lists, conditionals and loops.
The Problem[edit]
The Game of Life, also known simply as Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970.
The game is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input. One interacts with the Game of Life by creating an initial configuration and observing how it evolves, or, for advanced players, by creating patterns with particular properties.[2]
The universe of the Game of Life is an infinite, two-dimensional orthogonal grid of square cells, each of which is in one of two possible states, alive or dead, (or populated and unpopulated, respectively). Every cell interacts with its eight neighbours, which are the cells that are horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent. At each step in time, the following transitions occur:
- Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies, as if by under population.
- Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives on to the next generation.
- Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.
- Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.
The initial pattern constitutes the seed of the system. The first generation is created by applying the above rules simultaneously to every cell in the seed; births and deaths occur simultaneously, and the discrete moment at which this happens is sometimes called a tick. Each generation is a pure function of the preceding one. The rules continue to be applied repeatedly to create further generations.[3]
How you will be assessed[edit]
Your solution will be graded using the following axis:
Scope
- To what extent does your code implement the features required by our specification?
- To what extent is there evidence of effort?
Correctness
- To what extent did your code meet specifications?
- To what extent did your code meet unit tests?
- To what extent is your code free of bugs?
Design
- To what extent is your code written well (i.e. clearly, efficiently, elegantly, and/or logically)?
- To what extent is your code eliminating repetition?
- To what extent is your code using functions appropriately?
Style
- To what extent is your code readable?
- To what extent is your code commented?
- To what extent are your variables well named?
- To what extent do you adhere to style guide?
References[edit]
A possible solution[edit]
Click the expand link to see one possible solution, but NOT before you have tried and failed!
not yet!