Langton's ant is a two-dimensional Turing machine with a very simple set of rules but complex emergent behavior. It was invented by Chris Langton in 1986 and runs on a square lattice of black and white cells. The idea has been generalized in several different ways, such as turmites which add more colors and more states.
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' Enable BITMAP mode with a black background. BITMAP ENABLE(320,200) CLS BLACK ' Precalculate vectorial directions. DIM dx(4) AS POSITION = #{ 0, 1, 0, -1 } DIM dy(4) AS POSITION = #{ -1, 0, 1, 0 } ' Define the single ant structure. TYPE antType x AS POSITION y AS POSITION d AS SIGNED BYTE END TYPE ' Declare a single ant variable. DIM ant AS antType ' Put ant at the center of the screen. ant.x = SCREEN WIDTH / 2 ant.y = SCREEN HEIGHT / 2 ' Endless loop! DO ' Take the color in the current ant's position. c = POINT(ant.x, ant.y) ' If the current ant's cell color is black... IF c = BLACK THEN ' Rotate 90° clockwise. INC ant.d IF ant.d = 4 THEN ant.d = 0 ' Change the cell's color. PLOT ant.x, ant.y, WHITE ' ... else, if the color is white... ELSE ' Rotate 90° counter clockwise DEC ant.d IF ant.d = -1 THEN ant.d = 3 ' Change the cell's color. PLOT ant.x, ant.y, BLACK ENDIF ' Move the ant forward. ADD ant.x, dx(ant.d) ADD ant.y, dy(ant.d) ' Pac-man border style :-D IF ant.x < 0 THEN x = SCREEN WIDTH - 1 IF ant.x > SCREEN WIDTH - 1 THEN x = 0 IF ant.y < 0 THEN y = SCREEN HEIGHT - 1 IF ant.y > SCREEN HEIGHT - 1 THEN y = 0 LOOP
The instructions here refer to compiling the example from the command line. For Microsoft Windows
users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile each single example with just one click.
Are instructions for your specific home computer / console missing? First of all, check if your computer
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that this example will not work on your target. If you think this is an issue, please click here.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.cpc -O dsk -o contrib_ant.dsk contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.cpc.exe -O dsk -o contrib_ant.dsk contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.atari -O xex -o contrib_ant.xex contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.atari.exe -O xex -o contrib_ant.xex contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.coleco -O rom -o contrib_ant.rom contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.coleco.exe -O rom -o contrib_ant.rom contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.c128 -O prg -o contrib_ant.prg contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.c128.exe -O prg -o contrib_ant.prg contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.c64 -O prg -o contrib_ant.prg contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.c64.exe -O prg -o contrib_ant.prg contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.c64reu -O d64 -o contrib_ant.d64 contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.c64reu.exe -O d64 -o contrib_ant.d64 contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.sc3000 -O rom -o contrib_ant.rom contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.sc3000.exe -O rom -o contrib_ant.rom contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.sg1000 -O rom -o contrib_ant.rom contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.sg1000.exe -O rom -o contrib_ant.rom contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.coco3 -O bin -o contrib_ant.bin contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.coco3.exe -O bin -o contrib_ant.bin contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
In order to compile the example, type this command on the command line:
Linux
ugbc.zx -O tap -o contrib_ant.tap contrib_ant.bas
Windows
ugbc.zx.exe -O tap -o contrib_ant.tap contrib_ant.bas
For Microsoft Windows users we suggest using UGBASIC-IDE, which allows
you to download and compile this example with just one click.
If you have found a problem trying to run this example, if you think there is a bug or, more
simply, you would like it to be improved, open an issue for this example on GitHub.
Thank you!
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