cellular automaton

1 definition found

cellular automaton - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  cellular automaton
  cellular automata
  
     <algorithm, parallel> (CA, plural "- automata") A regular
     spatial lattice of "cells", each of which can have any one of
     a finite number of states.  The state of all cells in the
     lattice are updated simultaneously and the state of the entire
     lattice advances in discrete time steps.  The state of each
     cell in the lattice is updated according to a local rule which
     may depend on the state of the cell and its neighbors at the
     previous time step.
  
     Each cell in a cellular automaton could be considered to be a
     finite state machine which takes its neighbours' states as
     input and outputs its own state.
  
     The best known example is J.H. Conway's game of Life.
  
     FAQ (http://alife.santafe.edu/alife/topics/cas/ca-faq/ca-faq.html)
     .
  
     Usenet newsgroups: news:comp.theory.cell-automata,
     news:comp.theory.self-org-sys.
  
     (1995-03-03)