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John Conway's Game of Life implemented with coroutines, by Brett Slatkin
#!/usr/bin/env python3
# Copyright 2014 Brett Slatkin, Pearson Education Inc.
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.
"""
======================================================
John Conway's Game of Life implemented with coroutines
======================================================
by Brett Slatkin
This script was refactored by Luciano Ramalho from code listed in Item
40 of Brett Slatkin's excellent book "Effective Python: 59 Specific Ways
to Write Better Python".
The original code is published on Github under the Apache 2.0 license:
https://github.com/bslatkin/effectivepython/blob/master/example_code/item_40.py
The refactoring included:
- replacing the top-level testing code with doctests;
- changing the ``Grid.query`` method to ``Grid.__getitem__``, taking a
tuple of coordinates as argument;
- similarly, changing the ``Grid.assign`` method to ``Grid.__setitem__``;
Running this script produces no output. To run the doctests, use::
$ python3 -m doctest coro_life.py
No output will be generated if all doctests pass. To see doctest output,
use::
$ python3 -m doctest coro_life.py -v
--------------------------------------------
Doctests for specific components of the code
--------------------------------------------
Drive ``count_neighbors``
=========================
Drive the ``count_neighbors`` coroutine with fake data::
>>> it = count_neighbors(10, 5)
>>> next(it) # Get the first query, for q1
Query(y=11, x=5)
>>> it.send(ALIVE) # Send q1 state, get q2
Query(y=11, x=6)
>>> it.send(ALIVE) # Send q2 state, get q3
Query(y=10, x=6)
>>> # Send q3 ... q7 states, get q4 ... q8
>>> [it.send(state) for state in (EMPTY)*5] # doctest: +ELLIPSIS
[Query(y=9, x=6), Query(y=9, x=5), ..., Query(y=11, x=4)]
>>> try:
... it.send(EMPTY) # Send q8 state, drive coroutine to end
... except StopIteration as e:
... count = e.value # Value from return statement
...
>>> count
2
Drive ``step_cell``
===================
Drive the ``step_cell`` coroutine with fake data::
>>> it = step_cell(10, 5)
>>> next(it) # Initial location query
Query(y=10, x=5)
>>> [it.send(st) for st in (ALIVE)*5 + (EMPTY)*3] # doctest: +ELLIPSIS
[Query(y=11, x=5), Query(y=11, x=6), ... Query(y=11, x=4)]
>>> it.send(EMPTY) # Send q8 state, get game decision
Transition(y=10, x=5, state='-')
Test ``Grid``
=============
Put a glider in a 5x9 grid:
>>> grid = Grid(5, 9)
>>> grid[0, 3] = ALIVE
>>> grid[1, 4] = ALIVE
>>> grid[2, 2] = ALIVE
>>> grid[2, 3] = ALIVE
>>> grid[2, 4] = ALIVE
>>> print(grid)
---*-----
----*----
--***----
---------
---------
<BLANKLINE>
Run the game for 5 generations
==============================
Test ``ColumnPrinter``, ``simulate`` and ``live_a_generation``::
>>> columns = ColumnPrinter()
>>> sim = simulate(grid.height, grid.width)
>>> for i in range(5):
... columns.append(str(grid))
... grid = live_a_generation(grid, sim)
...
>>> print(columns) # doctest: +NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
---*----- | --------- | --------- | --------- | ---------
----*---- | --*-*---- | ----*---- | ---*----- | ----*----
--***---- | ---**---- | --*-*---- | ----**--- | -----*---
--------- | ---*----- | ---**---- | ---**---- | ---***---
--------- | --------- | --------- | --------- | ---------
Introductory diagram
====================
The first Game of Life example in Item 40 of "Effective Python"
(with an added generation showing zero surviving cells)::
>>> grid = Grid(5, 5)
>>> grid[1, 1] = ALIVE
>>> grid[2, 2] = ALIVE
>>> grid[2, 3] = ALIVE
>>> grid[3, 3] = ALIVE
>>> columns = ColumnPrinter()
>>> sim = simulate(grid.height, grid.width)
>>> for i in range(6):
... columns.append(str(grid))
... grid = live_a_generation(grid, sim)
...
>>> print(columns) # doctest: +NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | -----
-*--- | --*-- | --**- | --*-- | ----- | -----
--**- | --**- | -*--- | -*--- | -**-- | -----
---*- | --**- | --**- | --*-- | ----- | -----
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | -----
Blinker demo
============
The blinker is the simplest oscillator::
>>> grid = Grid(5, 5)
>>> for i in range(1, 4):
... grid[2, i] = ALIVE
...
>>> columns = ColumnPrinter()
>>> sim = simulate(grid.height, grid.width)
>>> for i in range(8):
... columns.append(str(grid))
... grid = live_a_generation(grid, sim)
...
>>> print(columns) # doctest: +NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | -----
----- | --*-- | ----- | --*-- | ----- | --*-- | ----- | --*--
-***- | --*-- | -***- | --*-- | -***- | --*-- | -***- | --*--
----- | --*-- | ----- | --*-- | ----- | --*-- | ----- | --*--
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | -----
"""
from collections import namedtuple
ALIVE = '*'
EMPTY = '-'
TICK = object()
Query = namedtuple('Query', 'y x')
Transition = namedtuple('Transition', 'y x state')
def count_neighbors(y, x):
n_ = yield Query(y + 1, x + 0) # North
ne = yield Query(y + 1, x + 1) # Northeast
e_ = yield Query(y + 0, x + 1) # East
se = yield Query(y - 1, x + 1) # Southeast
s_ = yield Query(y - 1, x + 0) # South
sw = yield Query(y - 1, x - 1) # Southwest
w_ = yield Query(y + 0, x - 1) # West
nw = yield Query(y + 1, x - 1) # Northwest
neighbor_states = [n_, ne, e_, se, s_, sw, w_, nw]
return sum(1 for state in neighbor_states if state == ALIVE)
def game_logic(state, neighbors):
if state == ALIVE:
if neighbors < 2:
return EMPTY # Die: Too few
elif neighbors > 3:
return EMPTY # Die: Too many
else:
if neighbors == 3:
return ALIVE # Regenerate
return state
def step_cell(y, x):
state = yield Query(y, x)
neighbors = yield from count_neighbors(y, x)
next_state = game_logic(state, neighbors)
yield Transition(y, x, next_state)
def simulate(height, width):
while True:
for y in range(height):
for x in range(width):
yield from step_cell(y, x)
yield TICK
class Grid(object):
def __init__(self, height, width):
self.height = height
self.width = width
self.rows = [[EMPTY] * self.width for _ in range(self.height)]
def __str__(self):
output = ''
for row in self.rows:
for cell in row:
output += cell
output += '\n'
return output
def __getitem__(self, position):
y, x = position
return self.rows[y % self.height][x % self.width]
def __setitem__(self, position, state):
y, x = position
self.rows[y % self.height][x % self.width] = state
def live_a_generation(grid, sim):
progeny = Grid(grid.height, grid.width)
item = next(sim)
while item is not TICK:
if isinstance(item, Query):
state = grid[item.y, item.x]
item = sim.send(state)
else: # Must be a Transition
progeny[item.y, item.x] = item.state
item = next(sim)
return progeny
class ColumnPrinter(object):
def __init__(self):
self.columns = []
def append(self, data):
self.columns.append(data)
def __str__(self):
row_count = 1
for data in self.columns:
row_count = max(row_count, len(data.splitlines()) + 1)
rows = [''] * row_count
for j in range(row_count):
for i, data in enumerate(self.columns):
line = data.splitlines()[max(0, j - 1)]
if j == 0:
rows[j] += str(i).center(len(line))
else:
rows[j] += line
if (i + 1) < len(self.columns):
rows[j] += ' | '
return '\n'.join(rows)
@j14x
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j14x commented Nov 3, 2020

Coming here from your book Fluent Python, great refactor from Brett's snippet.

In line 210, count could be refactor to use a genexp and sum:
count = sum(1 for state in neighbor_states if state == ALIVE)

What do you think?

@ramalho
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Author

ramalho commented Sep 3, 2021

Great idea, @j14x! I've implemented your idea, just returning the sum(); no need for count. Thanks!

@Ranudar
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Ranudar commented Oct 23, 2023

If you are like me and have some trouble understanding this code, here is the link of Brett Slatkins sample Chapter, thankfully referenced by @ramalho
https://effectivepython.com/2015/03/10/consider-coroutines-to-run-many-functions-concurrently

@ramalho Thank you very much for your great book!

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