kyleaclark/py-game-of-life

Conway's Game of Life simulation and animation in Python

Py-Game-of-Life

• Authored by Kyle Clark - kyleaclark.com
• Run application as a text game or simulated animation

Game of Life

Overview

• Game of Life is similar to Game of Thrones, except they're not really the same.
• Game of Life was created by mathematician John Conway in 1970 as a way to represent the interactions of cells.
• Played on a two-dimensional grid with a maximum of 8 neighbours for a grid square.
• Zero-player game determined by the initial random state of cells alive or dead.
• Subsequent states are determined by a set of rules.

Rules

1. Any live cell with 2 or 3 live neighbours lives on to the next generation (survival).
2. Any live cell with fewer than 2 live neighbours dies (under-population).
3. Any live cell with more than 3 live neighbors dies (overcrowding).
4. Any dead cell with exactly 3 live neighbors evolves into a live cell (reproduction).
5. Each cell lives or dies independently (non-sequentially) in a generational evolution.

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App Environment

• Python 3.10.6
• Poetry dependency management
• Setup instructions are specific to macOS. Steps may vary.

Setup Prerequisites

1. Install pyenv for python version management - https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv
2. Update pyenv if previously installed e.g. via brew brew upgrade pyenv
3. Install poetry for python dependency management - https://python-poetry.org/docs/#installation
4. Update poetry if necessary (optional): poetry self update
5. Add pyenv path to profile e.g. add export PYENV_ROOT="$HOME/.pyenv + export PATH="$PYENV_ROOT/bin:$PATH"
6. Add poetry path to profile e.g. add export PATH="$HOME/.poetry/bin/:PATH
7. Install python version: pyenv install 3.10.6

Python Environment

1. Set python version within the repo directory: pyenv local 3.10.6
2. Set the poetry env version of python: poetry env use ~/.pyenv/versions/3.10.6/bin/python
3. Install python application dependencies: poetry install

Python Execution

4. Run text game via terminal: poetry run python run_text_game.py
5. Run simulated animation via terminal: poetry run python run_simulated_animation.py
6. Run tests via terminal: poetry run python -m pytest -p no:cacheprovider tests

Optional: PyCharm Setup

1. Open PyCharm Preferences
2. Open Project Interpeter > Add existing Virtualenv Environment e.g. /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/pypoetry/virtualenvs/<poetry-name>/bin/python
3. Open Tools > Python Integrated Tools > Default test runner: pytest
4. Run text game: Right-click on run_text_game.py and choose Run
5. Run simulated animation: Right-click on run_simulated_animation.py and choose Run
6. Run tests via pytest: Right-click on tests and choose Run

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Poetry Reference

• Poetry documentation - https://python-poetry.org/docs/
• poetry install - Install dependencies from poetry.lock - https://python-poetry.org/docs/cli/#install
• poetry update - Update poetry.lock from pyproject.toml - https://python-poetry.org/docs/cli/#update
• poetry add - Add a dependency into pyproject.toml - https://python-poetry.org/docs/cli/#add
• poetry remove - Remove a dependency in pyproject.toml and update poetry.lock - https://python-poetry.org/docs/cli/#remove