How to resolve the algorithm Langton's ant step by step in the Forth programming language

Published on 12 May 2024 09:40 PM
#Forth

How to resolve the algorithm Langton's ant step by step in the Forth programming language

Table of Contents

Problem Statement

Langton's ant is a cellular automaton that models an ant sitting on a plane of cells, all of which are white initially, the ant facing in one of four directions. Each cell can either be black or white. The ant moves according to the color of the cell it is currently sitting in, with the following rules: This rather simple ruleset leads to an initially chaotic movement pattern, and after about 10000 steps, a cycle appears where the ant moves steadily away from the starting location in a diagonal corridor about 10 cells wide.
Conceptually the ant can then walk infinitely far away.

Start the ant near the center of a 100x100 field of cells, which is about big enough to contain the initial chaotic part of the movement. Follow the movement rules for the ant, terminate when it moves out of the region, and show the cell colors it leaves behind.

The problem has received some analysis; for more details, please take a look at the Wikipedia article   (a link is below)..

Let's start with the solution:

Step by Step solution about How to resolve the algorithm Langton's ant step by step in the Forth programming language

Source code in the forth programming language

 1 0 0 0                                                          \ pushes orientation of the ant to the stack. 

 100 CONSTANT border                                              \ lenght of the side of the grid 
 border border * constant size                                    \ size of the grid

 variable antpos                                                  \ for storing position of the ant
 size 2 / border 2 / +  antpos !                                  \ positions ant in the middle of the grid

 create Grid size cells allot
 here constant GridEnd                                            \ creates an array to hold the grid

 : turn.left 
	>r rot r> SWAP ;                                          \ rotates ant anti-clockwise

 : turn.right 
	turn.left turn.left turn.left ;                           \ rotates ant clockwise

 : stop.ant 
	antpos @ DUP 0<  SWAP size > + ;                          \ checks if ant not out of bounds

 : call.pos 
	Grid antpos @ cells + @ ;                                 \ pushes ant position to the stack

 : grid.add 
	Grid antpos @ cells + @ -1 + Grid antpos @ cells + !   ;  \ pushes -1 to the current position of the ant on the grid
	
 : swap.pos 
	call.pos dup * Grid antpos @ cells + ! ;                  \ multiplies current grid cell by itself to turn -1 into 1

 : swap.col 
	grid.add swap.pos ;                                       \ changes current grid cell color

 : go.ant                                                         \ moves ant one step in the direction taken from the stack
	2over 2over                                               \ copies stack for testing
	1 = IF antpos @ border + antpos ! 2DROP DROP ELSE         \ if true moves ant one cell up, drops unused numbers from stack
	1 = IF antpos @ 1 + antpos ! 2DROP ELSE                   \ same, but moves to the right
	1 = IF antpos @ border - antpos ! DROP ELSE               \ here to the left
	1 = IF antpos @ 1 - antpos ! ELSE                         \ and down

	THEN THEN THEN THEN  ;                                
	
 : step.ant                                                       \ preforms one full step.
	 call.pos 1 = IF turn.left swap.col ELSE
	 turn.right swap.col 
	 
	 THEN go.ant  ;
	 
 : run.ant                                                        \ runs the ant until it leaves the grid                                                                                                  
	BEGIN
	step.ant 
	stop.ant UNTIL ;
	
 : square.draw                                                     \ draws an "*" if grid cell is one or " " if zero
	1 = IF 42 EMIT ELSE 32 EMIT THEN ;
		
	
 : draw.grid                                                       \ draws grid on screen
	PAGE                                                       \ clear sreen 
	size 0 DO I
	I border MOD 0= IF  CR  THEN                               \ breaks the grid into lines
	Grid I cells + @ square.draw DROP
	
	LOOP ; 
	
 : langton.ant run.ant draw.grid ;                                 \ launches the ant, outputs the result

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