A cellular automaton (plural: cellular automata) is a discrete model studied in computability theory, mathematics, theoretical biology and microstructure modeling. It consists of a regular grid of cells, each in one of a finite number of states. The grid can be in any finite number of dimensions. Time is also discrete, and the state of a cell at time t is a function of the states of a finite number of cells (called its neighborhood) at time t − 1. These neighbors are a selection of cells relative to the specified cell, and do not change (though the cell itself may be in its neighborhood, it is not usually considered a neighbor). Every cell has the same rule for updating, based on the values in this neighbourhood. Each time the rules are applied to the whole grid a new generation is created. |  A breeder, a type of cellular automata found in Conway's Game of Life. The breeder (red in final frame) creates guns (green) behind it, which in turn continuously create streams of gliders (blue). This is by no means the most complex pattern devised: Conway and his students devised a pattern with 1013 cells, that acts as a Turing complete computer.[1] |
