🧬 Game of Life – Python Implementation

A Python implementation of Conway’s Game of Life simulating the evolution of cellular automata through standard rules. The initial state is defined in a file and the simulation can be visualized:

• in the console, or
• in a GUI window (requires tkinter)

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📂 Project Structure

GameOfLife/
│
├── game/               # Core Game of Life logic
├── ui/                 # User interfaces (console / GUI)
├── initial_states/     # Sample initial state input files
├── test/               # Unit tests
├── main.py             # Application entry point
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

Game logic and user interface are cleanly separated across modules.

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🧩 Software Design, Architecture & Best Practices

Overview

This project is structured with a clear separation of concerns:

Layer	Directory	Responsibility
Game Logic	/game	Cell state management and Conway's rules
User Interface	/ui	Console and Tkinter GUI visualization
Application Entry Point	main.py	Command-line parsing and runtime configuration

This modular architecture allows the UI to evolve independently from the game engine—for example, adding a web or mobile UI without modifying the core simulation logic.

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🎯 Domain-Driven Entities

The simulation is based on two core domain objects:

Class	Type	Responsibility
Cell	Value Object	Represents a living cell in the infinite grid
CandidateCell	Specialized Value Object	Used temporarily during evolution to compute survival/birth

The board (Board) receives and produces lists of these entities each turn, applying Conway's Game of Life rules.

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🧠 Design Patterns & Engineering Principles Applied

Pattern / Principle	Location	Benefit
Value Object Pattern	Cell	Coordinates define identity; correct equality checks
Inheritance for Specialization	CandidateCell(Cell)	Extends state only when required for evolution
Transient Entity Pattern	CandidateCell	Exists only during a single turn → memory efficiency
Spatial Hashing	Cell.create_hash()	Efficient O(1) lookup in sparse infinite grid
Separation of Concerns	/game vs /ui	Core logic isolated from rendering concerns
Dependency Inversion Principle	UI depends on interfaces (Board results)	Easy to test and replace UI
Encapsulation	Private attributes	Protects internal state from external mutation
Command-Line Interface Pattern	main.py	Encourages flexible and scriptable usage

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🧪 Testing & Maintainability

Unit tests included in /test help ensure reliable behaviors:

• correct cell identity and hashing
• accurate neighbor generation
• validated rule execution in Board

Designed for:

• fast execution
• deterministic output
• TDD-friendly iteration

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⚙️ Performance Considerations

Optimization	Result
Only living cells are stored between turns	Takes advantage of sparse grids
Only neighbors of living cells are considered	Avoids scanning infinite grid
Spatial hashing for identity	Simplifies comparisons and dictionary usage

These techniques allow infinite board simulation without large memory structures.

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▶️ Running the Application

python main.py filename [--mode MODE]

📌 Command line arguments

Argument	Description
filename	Path to the initial state file
--mode {console,gui,grid}	Visualization mode (default: gui)
-h, --help	Display help

Examples:

python main.py initial_states/glider --mode console
python main.py initial_states/gosper_glider_gun --mode gui

GUI mode requires the tkinter module.

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🧪 Running Unit Tests

python -m unittest

Verbose output:

python -m unittest -v

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🛠️ Requirements & Virtual Environment (optional)

Only Python standard libraries are used.

To create and activate a virtual environment:

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Linux/macOS
venv\Scripts\activate      # Windows

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🪟 Installing tkinter

If GUI mode fails due to missing tkinter, install it using:

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu/Raspberry Pi OS)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3-tk

Fedora

sudo dnf install python3-tkinter

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S tk

macOS & Windows

Usually included with Python from python.org. If missing, reinstall Python using the official installer.

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📌 Initial State File Format

Initial states are stored in plain text files:

1. First line → starting board coordinates Format:

   x, y
   

   Example:

   0, 0
   

2. Starting from the second line:

   • * → alive cell
   • space " " → dead cell

Cells are placed relative to the starting coordinates. All rows must have the same width.

Example: Blinker (oscillator)

5, 3
 *
 *
 *

This places the first cell of the second line at coordinate (5,3) and builds the pattern downward.

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🌟 Famous Patterns

Some classic patterns compatible with this format:

Pattern	Type	Description
Glider	Spaceship	Moves diagonally forever
Blinker	Oscillator	Alternates between two states
Toad	Oscillator	Period-2 oscillator
Gosper Glider Gun	Gun	Produces infinite gliders
Block	Still Life	Stays unchanged

Multiple ready-to-use samples are located in the initial_states/ directory.

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🚀 Possible Future Enhancements

• Support alternative rule sets (e.g., HighLife, Seeds…)
• Parallelization or chunk-based updates
• Web or GPU rendering (Canvas / WebGL)
• Support for RLE pattern format (community standard)

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📚 Additional Resources

Learn more about Conway’s Game of Life:

• Wikipedia — Conway’s Game of Life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life
• ConwayLife.com — The Life Wiki https://www.conwaylife.com/wiki/Main_Page
• Play Game of Life online https://playgameoflife.com/
• Coding Train — Game of Life video tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWSR_7kZuYg
• Original 1970 Scientific American article (Martin Gardner) https://web.archive.org/web/20231101083058/http://www.ibiblio.org/lifepatterns/october1970scientificamerican.pdf

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📜 License

This project is open-source (under MIT license). Contributions and improvements are welcome!