Oscillator (cellular automaton)
In a cellular automaton, an oscillator is a pattern that returns to its original state, in the same orientation and position, after a finite number of generations. Thus the evolution of such a pattern
Spacefiller
In Conway's Game of Life and related cellular automata, a spacefiller is a pattern that spreads out indefinitely, eventually filling the entire space with a still life pattern. It typically consists o
Still life (cellular automaton)
In Conway's Game of Life and other cellular automata, a still life is a pattern that does not change from one generation to the next. The term comes from the art world where a still life painting or p
Toothpick sequence
In geometry, the toothpick sequence is a sequence of 2-dimensional patterns which can be formed by repeatedly adding line segments ("toothpicks") to the previous pattern in the sequence. The first sta
Puffer train
In a cellular automaton a puffer train, or simply puffer, is a finite pattern that moves itself across the "universe", leaving debris behind. Thus a pattern consisting of only a puffer will grow arbit
Replicator (cellular automaton)
In cellular automata, a replicator is a pattern that produces copies of itself. In the one-dimensional Rule 90 cellular automaton, every pattern is a replicator. The same is true in the life-like cell
Sawtooth (cellular automaton)
In a cellular automaton, a finite pattern is called a sawtooth if its population grows without bound but does not tend to infinity. In other words, a sawtooth is a pattern with population that reaches
Von Neumann universal constructor
John von Neumann's universal constructor is a self-replicating machine in a cellular automaton (CA) environment. It was designed in the 1940s, without the use of a computer. The fundamental details of
Spark (cellular automaton)
In Conway's Game of Life and similar cellular automaton rules, a spark is a small collection of live cells that appears at the edge of some larger pattern such as a spaceship or oscillator, then quick
Garden of Eden (cellular automaton)
In a cellular automaton, a Garden of Eden is a configuration that has no predecessor. It can be the initial configuration of the automaton but cannot arise in any other way.John Tukey named these conf
Methuselah (cellular automaton)
In cellular automata, a methuselah is a small "seed" pattern of initial live cells that take a large number of generations in order to stabilize. More specifically, Martin Gardner defines them as patt
Glider (Conway's Life)
The glider is a pattern that travels across the board in Conway's Game of Life. It was first discovered by Richard K. Guy in 1969, while John Conway's group was attempting to track the evolution of th
Gun (cellular automaton)
In a cellular automaton, a gun is a pattern with a main part that repeats periodically, like an oscillator, and that also periodically emits spaceships. There are then two periods that may be consider
Reflector (cellular automaton)
In cellular automata such as Conway's Game of Life, a reflector is a pattern that can interact with a spaceship to change its direction of motion, without damage to the reflector pattern. In Life, man
Rake (cellular automaton)
A rake, in the lexicon of cellular automata, is a type of puffer train, which is an automaton that leaves behind a trail of debris. In the case of a rake, however, the debris left behind is a stream o
Breeder (cellular automaton)
In cellular automata such as Conway's Game of Life, a breeder is a pattern that exhibits quadratic growth, by generating multiple copies of a secondary pattern, each of which then generates multiple c
Sierpiński triangle
The Sierpiński triangle (sometimes spelled Sierpinski), also called the Sierpiński gasket or Sierpiński sieve, is a fractal attractive fixed set with the overall shape of an equilateral triangle, subd
Spaceship (cellular automaton)
In a cellular automaton, a finite pattern is called a spaceship if it reappears after a certain number of generations in the same orientation but in a different position. The smallest such number of g