This gives the computer four stages: execution, writing, increment PC, and write PC to memory. The clock is four loops, formed by the glider reflectors as the glider beams rotate. Instructions have a 4-bit opcode which is decoding in a few different instructions. The actual architecture has an 8-bit data bus, a 64-byte memory with two read ports, a ROM with 21 bits per line, and a one-hot encoded ALU supporting 8 different operations. While this isn’t the first computer in the Game of Life as published a design in 2000 and published a Spartan universal computer constructor in 2009, we think this is a particularly beautiful one.

It’s all based on Golly, which is an excellent program for simulating Conway’s Game of Life, among other things. The Python includes scripts to assemble the basic programs as a bank of selectable glider generators. The basic building blocks are a period-60 gun, a 90-degree glider reflector, a glider duplicator, and a glider eater.Īll the Python code that generates these structures is on GitHub as the sheer size of the machine couldn’t possibly be placed by hand. This means the space between gates is crucial as signals need to be in phase alignment. Because two orthogonal gliders can cancel each other out or form a glider eater if they intersect with a good phase shift, the basic logic gates can be formed from these interactions.

Unlike electricity, the Game of Life uses gliders as signals.

is one such individual who has created a computer in Conway’s Game of Life. Technically Microsoft PowerPoint, Portal 2, and Magic: the Gathering all are Turing-complete, what of it? Yet, each time someone embarks on an incredible quest of perseverance and creates a computer in one of these mediums, we stand back in awe. We often hear the term “Turing-complete” without giving much thought as to what the implications might be.

Game of life computer version