[comp.theory.cell-automata] Xlife 3.0

jb7m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jon C. R. Bennett) (03/25/91)

The new version of Xlife is now available for ftp from the contrib
directory of export.lcs.mit.edu, in the file xlife.3.0.tar.Z  

this release contains 

- many new life patterns
- a new and improved file format
- additions to the user interface that allow the construction of large
  complictated patters 

jon bennett

p.s. if you pick up a copy send me some mail so i can add you to my
mailing list 

p.p.s. if you have any patterns not in the release please send them to me
so they can be included in future releases 

jb7m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jon C. R. Bennett) (03/25/91)

i have just been informed that there are a few missing/broken files in the
tar file i put on export, i've got my elves working on the problem as i
type look for a new file "contrib/xlife.3.0.FIXED.tar.Z" within an hour or
two, sorry for the confusion

jon

jb7m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jon C. R. Bennett) (03/25/91)

i over wrote the bad copy of release 3, the good copy of the release can
now be found on export.lcs.mit.edu in contrib/xlife.3.0.tar.Z

make sure to check the patchlevel.h to see that it is

static char *level="xlife 3 patchlevel 0";

have fun

jon

callahan@cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan) (03/26/91)

In article <wbvK9dO00awJ8ClYJc@andrew.cmu.edu> jb7m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jon C. R. Bennett) writes:
> [ about the new release of Xlife ]

I wrote most of the user interface and file loading extensions very recently,
and there may still be some bugs or inconsistencies with the last release.
I tried to cater the new stuff to careful life tinkering as opposed to just
loading and watching.  I'm very interested in making the interface as usable
as possible, so I'd like comments and bug reports.  Assuming I have time, I'll 
try to track down these bugs (or convince you that they're features :-).  

I just found a bug when trying load files in absolute format.  It comes up
if you've moved the view before loading.  Basically, it's an inconsistency 
between new code and old.  I suspect most of the bugs will be of this nature.
The fix is as follows:

Go to the statement at line 497 in file.c:

     addcell(xpos + ...,
              ypos + ... )

This should be changed to

     addcell((xpos-loadx)+STARTPOS + ...,
              (ypos-loady)+STARTPOS + ... )

This will cause absolute mode patterns to be loaded in the upper left corner
of the displayed area.  Without this fix, the pattern appears at some bizarre
location that is not displayed.  

To get around the problem without fixing the source, you have two choices. 

(a) don't use absolute mode (i.e. recite the mantra "absolute == obsolete" 
until you feel enlightenment coming upon you).  This will also mean appending 
"#R" to the beginning of all non-picture files produced by 'S'.

(b) First do 'I' on loaded file, and use the center-of-mass command ('5') to
put the pattern in view.

I thought I did reasonable testing on Xlife, but it was mainly with respect
to the features I use.  I don't use absolute mode, and I don't use 'S' on
patterns too big to save as pictures (which is why I added the include 
extensions).  I don't want to make Xlife harder to use for people who do
use these things, so please report any anomalies and I'll try to fix them.

--
Paul Callahan
callahan@cs.jhu.edu