Snark

The Snark is a 90° stable glider reflector discovered by Mike Playle on April 25, 2013.[1] It is made up of two eater 1s, a block and a 31.4, the "heart" of the Snark. It is currently the fastest and the smallest 90° stable glider reflector, both in terms of the population and the bounding box. Another commonly-used stabilization of the catalyst is 34 bits, and many other variants are available. For a color-changing one, see the reflector in the stable reflector article, or a periodic bouncer .

<html><div class="rle"><div class="codebox"><div style="display:none;"><code></html> #C four Snark catalyst variants #C Top: original variant by Mike Playle #C Left: Shannon Omick (better clearance on a diagonal) #C Right: Heinrich Koenig (better clearance on a different diagonal) #C Bottom: Simon Ekström (better clearance on two diagonals) x = 51, y = 52, rule = B3/S23 20b2o$20bobo$22bo4b2o$18b4ob2o2bo2bo$18bo2bobobobob2o$21bobobobo$22b2o bobo$26bo2$12b2o$13bo7b2o$13bobo5b2o$14b2o25bo$39b3o$38bo$38b2o3$46b2o $24b2o21bo$24bo22bob2o$14b3o8b3o11b2o4b3o2bo$4bo11bo10bo11b2o3bo3b2o$ 2b5o8bo5b2o21b4o$bo5bo13bo8b2o15bo$bo2b3o12bobo7bobo12b3o$2obo15b2o8bo 13bo$o2b4o21b2o14b5o$b2o3bo3b2o11bo22bo2bo$3b3o4b2o11b3o22b2o$3bo22bo$ 2obo21b2o$2ob2o3$11b2o$12bo$9b3o$9bo25b2o$28b2o5bobo$28b2o7bo$37b2o2$ 24bo$23bobob2o4b2o$23bobobobo2bo2bo$22b2obobobo3b2o$23bo2b2ob4o$23bo4b o3bo$24b3obo2bo$26bobobo$29bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 ZOOM 8 HEIGHT 480 THUMBLAUNCH THUMBSIZE 2 ]]<html></code></div></div><canvas width="200" height="300" style="margin-left:1px;"><noscript></html>
Please enable Javascript to view this LifeViewer.
<html></noscript></canvas></div></html>
four Snark catalyst variants
Top:  Mike Playle (original variant)
Left:  Shannon Omick (better clearance on a diagonal)
Right:  Heinrich Koenig (better clearance on a different diagonal)
Bottom:  Simon Ekström (better clearance on two diagonals)
(click above to open LifeViewer)
RLE: here Plaintext: here
Snark
<html><div class="rle"><div class="codebox"><div style="display:none;"><code></html>14b2o$14bobo$16bo4b2o$12b4ob2o2bo2bo$12bo2bobobobob2o$15bobobobo$16b2o bobo$20bo2$6b2o$7bo7b2o$7bobo5b2o$8b2o7$18b2o$18bo$19b3o$21bo7$3o$2bo$ bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] <nowiki>#C [[ WIDTH 600 HEIGHT 600 X 3 Y -3 THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 20 GPS 30 LOOP 128 ]]</nowiki> <html></code></div></div><canvas width="200" height="300" style="margin-left:1px;"><noscript></html> <html></noscript></canvas></div></html>
View static image
Pattern type Stable reflector
Number of cells 52
Bounding box 23×17
Angle 90°
Repeat time 43
Discovered by Mike Playle
Year of discovery 2013

The base reaction was discovered by Dietrich Leithner about 1998, but it consumed another block.[2] A catalyst that could replace the block was found with Bellman, a program for searching catalytic reactions developed by Mike Playle.

Given its small repeat time, the Snark enabled oscillators of previously unknown periods of 43 and 53 to be constructed.[3] It also made most large symmetrical Herschel loop guns obsolete, since it is now possible to make use of the Herschel gliders with a shorter path of the Herschel track itself.[4]

The period-4 reflector with repeat time 52 was used for p52+4n glider streams before the Snark was discovered.

The Snark was voted Pattern of the Year 2013 in a belated vote held in 2018 on the ConwayLife.com forums.[5]

See also

References
  1. Mike Playle (April 25, 2013). Just the place for a Snark! (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  2. Adam P. Goucher (February 17, 2010). Re: Incomplete search patterns - try to complete (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  3. Matthias Merzenich (April 25, 2013). Re: Just the place for a Snark! (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  4. Dave Greene (May 4, 2013). Re: Just the place for a Snark! (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  5. 77topaz (March 29, 2018). Re: Belated Pattern of the Year 2013 competition: Voting (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
This article is issued from Conwaylife. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.