Langstons_Ant v1.0 written by Steve Sprang November 25, 1996 What is Langston's Ant? ======================= At it's simplest, Langston's Ant is a graphics and Game Kit demo. What it really is, however, is a demonstration of how complexity and order can arise from simplicity. I first read about Langston's Ant sometime in the spring of 1994 in Scientific American (sorry, I can't remember exactly which month). Langston's Ant knows only two rules: 1) If I am on a black square, paint the square white and turn left. 2) If I am on a white square, paint the square black and turn right. When the ant first begins executing these rules, things appear pretty random. The amazing thing, though, is that after executing these two very simple rules many times, a pattern begins to emerge. The ant finds itself in a sequence from which it can't escape. Well, you'll see for yourself. My implementation of the ant, starts the little guy off in a circle of random dots (Another interesting thing is that regardless of the initial set of dots the ant begins in, it always manages to fall into its inescapable sequence). I originally coded up the rules for Langston's Ant in HyperTalk on my Macintosh Quadra during my senior year of high school. The Be/C++ version is (literally) a million times faster. :) Usage ===== After launching Langston's Ant, you can quit by typing Command-Q, or by typing escape. Pressing space will clear the screen and start a new ant. NOTE: If you switch workspaces, make sure to reset the ant before quitting. If not, your palette might get mangled. I believe this is my bug. Distribution ============ Feel free to distribute Langston's Ant in any way that you can. I only ask that this README file is always included with the executable (and source). If you make any changes to the source code, please DO NOT distribute it without first contacting me. No big deal, I just want to know what's out there. Contact Info ============ Please send all comments or bug reports to me: Email: sprang@andrew.cmu.edu or ssprang@cs.cmu.edu Permanent Address: Steve Sprang 141 State Route 603 Shiloh, OH 44878 WWW: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/sprang Be software page: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/sprang/besoft.html Enjoy!