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RE: Game of Life: an XSLT implementation

• To: "'Roger L. Costello'" <costello@m...>, xml-dev@l...
• Subject: RE: Game of Life: an XSLT implementation
• From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@i...>
• Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 09:44:26 -0500

Nice, Roger!  Of course, one could apply this to dynamic 
presentation languages such as SVG or X3D as well.  Someone 
with time should try the BOIDs simulation.

Of greater interest over time would be non-linear conditions 
in production environments that have queues and contention 
for resources.  One would want an interface that let the 
player change conditions, for example increasing certain 
resources in response to the queue conditions and using 
feedback to the queue to enable it to reorganize spontaneously. 
Then one is approaching the kinds of dynamical systems 
the web exhibits in response to feedback that generates 
links, eg, blogging behaviors and their effects on 
directing innovation and their inhibition of it.

Thanks for taking the time to build this proof of the 
concepts!

len


From: Roger L. Costello [mailto:costello@m...]

I have implemented the Game of Life[1] using XSLT.

It's kinda neat!  It nicely demonstrates some aspects of complex systems
such as evolution, attractors and feedback.

For example, here is a simple starting configuration (a filled-in square
means it's a live cell, an empty square means it's a dead cell):

http://www.xfront.com/life/orig.html

After applying the rules of Life once, the configuration evolves to
this:

http://www.xfront.com/life/out1.html

Then, after applying the rules of Life to that output (i.e., feedback),
the configuration evolves to this:

http://www.xfront.com/life/out2.html

Below I chronicle the configuration's evolution.  It settles into a
repeating pattern when it gets to the sixth iteration (the pattern
alternates between configuration 5 and 6 indefinitely).  These two
states represents an "attractor".

http://www.xfront.com/life/out3.html
http://www.xfront.com/life/out4.html
http://www.xfront.com/life/out5.html
http://www.xfront.com/life/out6.html

Each configuration is represented as an XML document.  Here is the
initial configuration:

http://www.xfront.com/life/orig-Input.xml

Here is the stylesheet which applies the Life rules, and produces the
next configuration:

http://www.xfront.com/life/GameOfLife.xsl

Here is a stylesheet which creates a graphical image of a configuration:

http://www.xfront.com/life/GameOfLifeViewer.xsl

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