douglasgoodwin/termitelab.md

## termitelab.md

      
    Raw
  

              termitelab.md
            
          
    LAB: Let's simulate termites!

ingredients


a regular grid
a sack of beans
bottle caps or portion cups, one per termite
one die per termite (or use the simulator)

instructions


Draw or make a large regular grid of 2"x2" cells
randomly distribute dried beans on the grid
give each termite player a portion cup or bottle cap
"carrying" a woodchip is placing a bean on the cap/cup
termites may only carry one woodchip at a time

procedure


Wander randomly around the grid by rolling the die (see below)
When if you enter a cell containing a chip and your cup is empty, put it in the cup.
Carry the bean and wander some more until you enter a cell containing a bean. Drop your bean.

Use the die to tell you where to move. You may define your own mapping (which would give you another bit of randomness!) or use this:


1:NW
2:N
3:NE


4:W

5:E


6:S


or start the Flask server on your local machine and hit http://127.0.0.1:5000/die.

questions


what happened?
did you create orderly piles? if so, how many?
how long did it take?
why does this happen?
is this simulation alive?
does the medium matter?
could you sort different kinds of beans? what rules would you add?


## tumblingDie.py
from random import choice
from flask import Flask

die = ['NW','N','NE','E','SE','S','SW','W']
app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/die')
def index():
	roll = choice(die)
	page = """<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
	  <head>
		<title>tumbling die</title>
		<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2;URL='http://127.0.0.1:5000/die'" />
	  </head>
	  <body>
	   <H1>%s</H1>
	  </body>
	  </html>""" %(roll)

	return page

if __name__ == '__main__':
	app.run(debug=True)
	from random import choice
	from flask import Flask

	die = ['NW','N','NE','E','SE','S','SW','W']
	app = Flask(__name__)

	@app.route('/die')
	def index():
	roll = choice(die)
	page = """<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
	<head>
	<title>tumbling die</title>
	<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2;URL='http://127.0.0.1:5000/die'" />
	</head>
	<body>
	<H1>%s</H1>
	</body>
	</html>""" %(roll)

	return page

	if __name__ == '__main__':
	app.run(debug=True)