5 ms·

I've been obsessed with Langton's ant for a good solid decade now. My latest creation is a few years old now, but occasionally I go back and add new commands.

by daeken 12y ago

I've been obsessed with Langton's ant for a good solid decade now. My latest creation is a few years old now, but occasionally I go back and add new commands. It's inspired by Langton's ant, but it operates in 45 degree increments, has the ability to fork, conditionally execute instructions, has colors, and a bunch of other interesting things. You can see it in action at http://demoseen.com/langton/#.FP$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~ http://demoseen.com/langton/#.FP$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~ and there's a simple instruction listing at the bottom of the page. It's quite a departure from the original, but you can make absolutely gorgeous images with some simple instructions.

hrjet 12y ago
Wow! A suggestion: Adding some sort of inertia calculation. It might lead to very complex and yet smooth looking images.
mercurial 12y ago
Beautiful. Thanks!
jtms 12y ago
Wow! Very cool... I could play with this for days! Thank you for posting this.
briandw 12y ago
This is amazing work. Langton's ant was one of the first programs I wrote in Java around 1996 so it's super fun to see what you've done with it.
cezarywojcik 12y ago
This is awesome - lot of fun to play with. This is the best pattern I've been able to come up with so far: http://demoseen.com/langton/#..rr@<>@!!@@ http://demoseen.com/langton/#..rr@<>@!!@@
- daeken 12y ago
  That's really cool -- I love 'lattice' type patterns. This is my current favorite, because it seems to terminate (stabilize) and then does one last little bit. Runs for a good while before it 'terminates', as well. http://demoseen.com/langton/#.$!~PF!!!! http://demoseen.com/langton/#.$!~PF!!!!.
  - cezarywojcik 12y ago
    After playing with this a good bit, here's my favorite: http://demoseen.com/langton/#@@1o..+..-1o..+..-<>..$.^ http://demoseen.com/langton/#@@1o..+..-1o..+..-<>..$.^ It makes a cloth/napkin, and then slowly absorbs blood from the four corners.
    - daeken 12y ago
      That's really, really cool. I want to make a gallery system for these, where people can submit theirs and others can modify from there. Btw, I just added a polar mode (the grid is treated as polar coordinates, and converted from there); the & instruction switches to polar and _ brings it back to cartesian, so you can actually blend the two. http://demoseen.com/langton/#&m.$!~PFP!!. http://demoseen.com/langton/#&m.$!~PFP!!..
GhotiFish 12y ago
any way to simulate turmites with this?

by daeken 12y ago

hrjet 12y ago

Wow! A suggestion: Adding some sort of inertia calculation. It might lead to very complex and yet smooth looking images.

mercurial 12y ago

Beautiful. Thanks!

jtms 12y ago

Wow! Very cool... I could play with this for days! Thank you for posting this.

briandw 12y ago

This is amazing work. Langton's ant was one of the first programs I wrote in Java around 1996 so it's super fun to see what you've done with it.

cezarywojcik 12y ago

This is awesome - lot of fun to play with. This is the best pattern I've been able to come up with so far: http://demoseen.com/langton/#..rr@<>@!!@@ http://demoseen.com/langton/#..rr@<>@!!@@

daeken 12y ago
That's really cool -- I love 'lattice' type patterns. This is my current favorite, because it seems to terminate (stabilize) and then does one last little bit. Runs for a good while before it 'terminates', as well. http://demoseen.com/langton/#.$!~PF!!!! http://demoseen.com/langton/#.$!~PF!!!!.
- cezarywojcik 12y ago
  After playing with this a good bit, here's my favorite: http://demoseen.com/langton/#@@1o..+..-1o..+..-<>..$.^ http://demoseen.com/langton/#@@1o..+..-1o..+..-<>..$.^ It makes a cloth/napkin, and then slowly absorbs blood from the four corners.
  - daeken 12y ago
    That's really, really cool. I want to make a gallery system for these, where people can submit theirs and others can modify from there. Btw, I just added a polar mode (the grid is treated as polar coordinates, and converted from there); the & instruction switches to polar and _ brings it back to cartesian, so you can actually blend the two. http://demoseen.com/langton/#&m.$!~PFP!!. http://demoseen.com/langton/#&m.$!~PFP!!..

GhotiFish 12y ago

any way to simulate turmites with this?