Programming niceties

The subroutine inod(w), whose argument w is the Wolfram rule number of a one dimensional automaton, will install the corresponding table in CAM-A . No other record of the rule is left behind, since it is so easy to regenerate from the rule number.

Installation of one-dimensional rules is actually a two step process; the first part is to create the rule table, the second is to create the unified screen image. The two are combined in inod.

For a automaton, oned31(r0,r1,t) transforms char t[27] into two tables, char *r0 for plane 0 and char *r1 for plane 1. It is usually called by inod31(r0,r1,t), t having previously been prepared, say by choice of the option offered by f1.

Members of the pair oned41(r0,r1,t) and inod41(r0,r1,t) together render the same services for automata; this time char t[64] would be generated by another f1 option.

In both cases suitable global variables are provided, char *tbl31 and char *tbl41 respectively, so that the rules will always be retained between consultations of the editor, and for the use of other subroutines.

Several other one-dimensional automata can be emulated by a CAM , but the techniques involved do not produce such attractive visual images as the ones mentioned. Although the rules for one dimensional automata make a pleasant adjunct to CAMEX , the analysis is nowhere as detailed as that provided by the program set LCAU ; probabilistic surveys, de Bruijn diagrams, and the calculation of ancestors are all missing.



Harold V. McIntosh
E-mail:mcintosh@servidor.unam.mx