Watch a glider take flight in a 2D world with the power of Python and Matplotlib's animation magic ✨

lone_glider

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.animation import FuncAnimation
from matplotlib.animation import PillowWriter

# Define the initial state of the grid
grid = np.zeros((100, 100))
grid[1, 2] = 1
grid[2, 3] = 1
grid[3, 1:4] = 1

# Define the function that updates the grid
def update(frame):
    global grid
    new_grid = np.zeros((100, 100))
    for i in range(100):
        for j in range(100):
            # Count the number of live neighbors
            num_neighbors = (
                grid[(i - 1) % 100, (j - 1) % 100]
                + grid[(i - 1) % 100, j]
                + grid[(i - 1) % 100, (j + 1) % 100]
                + grid[i, (j - 1) % 100]
                + grid[i, (j + 1) % 100]
                + grid[(i + 1) % 100, (j - 1) % 100]
                + grid[(i + 1) % 100, j]
                + grid[(i + 1) % 100, (j + 1) % 100]
            )
            # Update the cell according to the rules of Conway's Game of Life
            if grid[i, j] == 1 and (num_neighbors == 2 or num_neighbors == 3):
                new_grid[i, j] = 1
            elif grid[i, j] == 0 and num_neighbors == 3:
                new_grid[i, j] = 1
    # Update the grid
    grid = new_grid
    # Plot the grid
    plt.clf()
    plt.imshow(grid, cmap="binary")
    plt.title("Glider Simulation")
    plt.axis("off")

# Create the animation
ani = FuncAnimation(plt.gcf(), update, frames=100, interval=50)

# Create a writer object to save the animation as a GIF
writer = PillowWriter(fps=20)
ani.save("glider.gif", writer=writer)

# Show the animation
plt.show()