Strengths:

• Both solutions demonstrate a good understanding of the problems and implement efficient algorithms.
• The use of in-place marking and temporary states shows advanced problem-solving skills.
• Code is clean, readable, and follows best practices.

Areas for Improvement:

• In gameOfLife, the directions list could be defined as a constant outside the function for better reusability and clarity.
• Adding comments to explain the temporary states (-1 and 2) in gameOfLife would improve readability for others reviewing the code.