Tour of Life: A Game of Life Learning Experience

Information

• Publication Type: Bachelor Thesis
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
  • Visualization Group
• Date: February 2022
• Date (Start): September 2021
• Date (End): February 2022
• Matrikelnummer: 11811341
• First Supervisor:
  • Eduard Gröller
  • Daniel Pahr

Abstract

Although the concept behind the Game of Life cellular automaton has been explored deeply in the past, it is still difficult to find proper resources on this topic that would allow those with little to no experience in the field of IT to properly understand it. No singular solution exists that explains the algorithm behind the automaton, lets the user interact with the simulation, and provides explanations regarding the most common building blocks of Life, all in one place. The goal of this bachelor thesis is to create an online learning tool, that would enable people with little computer knowledge, to engage with the automaton. This is done by offering a range of interactive lessons on the Game of Life, together with a high degree of customizability of the simulation itself. An additional goal of this project is to include a 3D interpretation of the Game of Life automaton, adjusting the algorithm accordingly, allowing users to experiment with the additional third dimension. The Game of Life not being a fresh topic, related work has been researched and compared, and the results are laid out below. In addition to the developed web application, this thesis goes deeper in exploring the concepts of a Turing machine and Turing complete systems, such as the Game of Life itself. Implementation details are presented, as well as ideas for the future development of the so-called “Tour of Life”, and its potential features. The results of this work are publicly available, the link to the Tour of Life website can be found at the end of this thesis

Additional Files and Images

Weblinks

No further information available.

BibTeX

@bachelorsthesis{szabo_patrik-2022-tour,
  title =      "Tour of Life: A Game of Life Learning Experience",
  author =     "Patrik Szab\'{o}",
  year =       "2022",
  abstract =   "Although the concept behind the Game of Life cellular
               automaton has been explored deeply in the past, it is still
               difficult to find proper resources on this topic that would
               allow those with little to no experience in the field of IT
               to properly understand it. No singular solution exists that
               explains the algorithm behind the automaton, lets the user
               interact with the simulation, and provides explanations
               regarding the most common building blocks of Life, all in
               one place. The goal of this bachelor thesis is to create an
               online learning tool, that would enable people with little
               computer knowledge, to engage with the automaton. This is
               done by offering a range of interactive lessons on the Game
               of Life, together with a high degree of customizability of
               the simulation itself. An additional goal of this project is
               to include a 3D interpretation of the Game of Life
               automaton, adjusting the algorithm accordingly, allowing
               users to experiment with the additional third dimension. The
               Game of Life not being a fresh topic, related work has been
               researched and compared, and the results are laid out below.
               In addition to the developed web application, this thesis
               goes deeper in exploring the concepts of a Turing machine
               and Turing complete systems, such as the Game of Life
               itself. Implementation details are presented, as well as
               ideas for the future development of the so-called “Tour of
               Life”, and its potential features. The results of this
               work are publicly available, the link to the Tour of Life
               website can be found at the end of this thesis",
  month =      feb,
  address =    "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria",
  school =     "Research Unit of Computer Graphics, Institute of Visual
               Computing and Human-Centered Technology, Faculty of
               Informatics, TU Wien ",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2022/szabo_patrik-2022-tour/",
}