game_of_live or Langton's Ant

template for the classic "Game of Live" or "Langton's Ant" for TestDrivenDevelopment TDD practice

Implementation Rules:

• Implement a de.bas.game_of_life.<GameName>.java class, according to
  • these "Game of Live"- rules here
  • or these rules here
• Start with de.bas.game_of_life.<GameName>Test.java unit test
• brake down all the functionality you will need into small chunks i.e. methods not longer then 9-11 lines for each method, so that they can be easily unit-tested.
• write all the tests before the implementation.
• but write an empty class of de.bas.game_of_life.<GameName>.java with the empty methods you plan even before the tests
• the playing field should be a simple char[][] array, prefilled with you test data, which is given in the constructor.
• make sure that de.bas.game_of_life.<GameName>.java to implements the interface e.bas.game_of_life.MatrixSource.java
• make sure everything is thourougly tested.

final integration into the javafx - MatrixSequenceViewer

add the following constructor to de.bas.game_of_life.<GameName>.java:

//...for Game of Live:
public class GameOfLive implements MatrixSource {
  GameOfLive(char[][] array, boolean randomInit) {
    //...
  } //...
} 

or for Langton's Ant:

//...for Langton's Ant:
public class LangtonsAnt implements MatrixSource {
  LangtonsAnt(char[][] array, int antX, int antY, String antDirection,boolean randomInit ) {
    //...if randomInit is true then  array content (but not  array.size), antX, etc. are ignored and generated as valid random values, 
  } //...
} 

with these constaints:

• if randomInit is false , then array given to the Constructor is expected to be initialized with
  • MatrixPaneConverter.LIVING_CELL , which is the char '■'
  • or MatrixPaneConverter.DEAD_CELL , which is the space char ' ';
  • and before calling the constuctor of GameOfLive
• or, if randomInit is true, the array need not be initialized but only allocated with new, before calling the Constructor of GameOfLive. Then the Constructor should replace the content by random with '■' or ' ' for each element of the array.

the goal is, not to need to fix anything (apart from the Constructor and the initialization ) in de.bas.game_of_life.<GameName>.java after its integrated with the de.bas.tdd_helpers.MatrixSequenceViewer.java

Use 2 of the 4 statics in MatrixPaneConverter (MatrixPaneConverter.LIVING_CELL ... MatrixPaneConverter.WHITE_CELL ) but don't bother with the rest of MatrixPaneConverter, ExampleMatrixSource, you don't need this. Finaly just uncomment line 23 or 24 in MatrixSequenceViewer and comment in line 21 instead. then run MatrixSequenceViewer

Example arrays/steps for "Langton's Ant":

Find the ONE error in the following example steps! and add another step at the end!

example start 6x6 array: the ant on x=2,y=3, direction=west, "." is a white field, "■" is a black field

......
..■...
...■..
..*...
......
......

with the ant on x=2,y=3, direction=west,

next step (1) according to the rules:

• At a white square, turn 90° clockwise, flip the color of the square, move forward one unit
• At a black square, turn 90° counter-clockwise, flip the color of the square, move forward one unit
• NEW: when ant is facing to the border of the board, it does NOT move forward, but still does flip the color of the square and roteate according to rule 1 and 2 would be:

......
..■...
..*■..
..■...
......
......

while ants position is now x=2,y=2 , direction north (because ant was on a white field):

next step (2) according to the rules

......
..■...
..■✪..
..■...
......
......

ant position x=3, y=2, direction=east (because ant was on a white field),

next step (3) according to the rules

......
..■*..
..■...
..■...
......
......

ant position : x=3, y=1 , direktion north (because last field was a black field)

next step (4) according to the rules

......
..■■*.
..■...
..■...
......
......

ant position : x=4, y=1 , direktion east (because last field was a white field)