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Life Patterns Introduction The program runs an interactive animation that is like a simulation of a bacteria colony. More formally, it is a "Cellular Automaton". Cells that are filled in are "alive", and they influence the other cells beside them. Each cell on the screen either lives, dies or stays unchanged depending on how many neighboring cells are occupied. Different rules for this life and death process can be used, leading to different kinds of behavior. Program Versions The program comes is two variations, the low-cost regular (light) version, and the "Pro" version. The Pro version includes not only Conway's rules, but some other sets that also produce interesting patterns. The low-cost version does not allow all the rules and other settings to be changed. Rules The most well-know rules are those of the mathematician John Conway. That's what gets loaded when the program starts. With Conway's rules: a cell with one or fewer neighbors dies from loneliness, a cell with 4 or 5 or more neighbors dies from crowding, a cell 2 neighbors stays unchanged, a cell 3 neighbors comes alive (gives birth) if it's not alive already. The "Maze" rules, for example, grow patterns that look a lot like mazes because the cells like to be connected vertically and horizontally, but with only 2 neighbors. The "Coral" rules need a hunk of cells with a hole in the, and then grow in a way that resembles the collection of polyps that make up a coral reef. Check out the support page for help and common concerns.