CS 205 - Programming for the Sciences
Spring 2008 - Programming Assignment 4
20 points

Out: March 11, 2008
Due: March 18, 2008

Cellular automata may be one-dimensional as well as two-dimensional. As with two-dimensional automata, the neighborhood of a cell is defined to be cells nearby. But since there is only one dimension, the neighbors of a cell are only to the left and right of it. For a neighborhood consisting of one cell on each side of cell, there are 8 possible patterns for each cell and its neighbors. The set of rules for such a one-dimensional automaton usually is given as an enumeration of the 8 possible patterns and the results for the center cell (called Wolfram notation). One particular interesting set of rules is given as follows:

where 1 means the cell is alive and 0 means the cell is dead. For the cells on the end, we assume that the missing neighbor's value is 0.

For this assignment, you are given a compressed solution folder 1D-CellularAutomata.zip that is the same as the GameOfLifeInClass folder except that it creates a one-dimensional grid of Labels to represent the cells as shown below:

and has the grid Click and Clear button handlers already written.

Assignment

Download the compressed solution folder 1D-CellularAutomata.zip from the course webpage.

Complete the one-dimensional cellular automata program in the same manner as was done for the Game of Life in-class exercise. That is,

1. Write a method ComputeGeneration that computes the next generation using the rules given above and store it in a one-dimensional grid of strings. Note that you will need to add a variable for the backing grid of strings and add code to the MakeGrid method to create it. (Also note that since there are only 2 neighbors and the rules are enumerated for each pattern, we do not need a method to count the live neighbors as was done for the Game of Life.)

2. Write a method DisplayGeneration that copies the backing grid strings to the grid of labels Text property to display the new generation.

3. Double-click on the Next button and write a handler that will loop for the number of generations entered by the user (textbox numGenerations) by calling ComputeGeneration and DisplayGeneration each iteration.

4. Add a delay after each DisplayGeneration using the Thread.Sleep method to delay the number of milliseconds (ms) entered by the user (textbox updateTime). Remember to add "using System.Threading;" at the beginning of the program file.

5. Finally, add code to keep track of the number of generations computed (integer variable genCount) and display it (Text property of label variable generationCount).

Try starting with a single asterisk in the middle of the grid. Experiment with your program and find at least one other starting grid state that generates an "interesting" sequence of grid states.

What to submit

For full credit, a compressed (zipped) solution folder containing a C# project must be submitted as an attachment to an email to Dr. Hwang (hwang@evansville.edu) no later than 4:30pm on the due date.

Also submit in your email, a starting grid pattern that generates an "interesting" sequence of grid states with a brief discussion of why you think it is interesting.

To create a compressed solution folder find the solution folder via Windows Explorer. Right-click on the solution folder, select Send To, then select Compressed (zipped) folder. This will created a compressed folder of the same name as the solution folder with extension .zip and an icon of a folder with a zipper.