Rules
Squares on a plane are colored variously either black or white. We arbitrarily identify one square as the "ant". The ant can travel in any of the four cardinal directions at each step it takes. The ant moves according to the rules below:
- At a white square, turn 90° right, flip the color of the square, move forward one unit
- At a black square, turn 90° left, flip the color of the square, move forward one unit
Langton's ant can also be described as a cellular automaton, where the grid is colored black or white, the "ant" square has one of eight different colors assigned to encode the combination of black/white state and the current direction of motion of the ant.
Read more about this topic: Langton's Ant
Famous quotes containing the word rules:
“Fergus rules the brazen cars,
And rules the shadows of the wood,
And the white breast of the dim sea
And all dishevelled wandering stars.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Learn hence for ancient rules a just esteem;
To copy Nature is to copy them.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but, disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)