How to start with cellular automata

Question

I have to start working on cellular automaton so can anyone please share the link which may help a beginner to learn the basics.

Answer 1

I would suggest the following resources as an introduction to Cellular Automata (CA):

• To immediately start playing with different CAs, running their evolution, checking properties – try Wolfram|Alpha. This a computational knowledge engine that turns plane English into computation. Type for example “rule 110”. This are some other examples. Explore!

• A must read is “New Kind of Science” book by Stephen Wolfram, available online for free (you may need to register once).

• The Wolfram Science Summer School has great free recourses and lectures online. But I would really recommend applying for the actual 3 weeks program. You’ll get hands on experience with doing real research in the CA and related field collaborating with instructors and students.

• The Wolfram Demonstration Project has numerous free CA applications

• For a deeper read see Stephen Wolfram publications

• MathWorld has good intro articles: Elementary Cellular Automaton and Cellular Automaton

• And of course the best tool would be Mathematica with built-in CellularAutomaton function and a lot of related research functionality. You can download free trial version or check if your school has licence.

P.S. This is sample CA Mathematica code showing how easy and compact programming structures look in that language:

Image3D /@ CellularAutomaton[{14, {2, 1}, {1, 1, 1}}, {{{{1}}}, 0}, {{3, 10}}]

Table[ArrayPlot[Mean[
   CellularAutomaton[{i, {2, 1}, {1, 1}}, {{{1}}, 0}, 30]],], 
{i, 2, 20, 4}]