Simulating Infinity in Conway's Game of Life with Modern C++

2 days ago

GOLDE is a cellular automata editor and simulator built in modern C++, allowing trillions of generations to be simulated instantly.
HashLife algorithm is implemented using a memoized quadtree, with nodes caching future states to enable near-infinite evolution efficiently.
LifeNode structure uses const pointers for immutable canonical quadtrees, and LifeNodeArena provides bump-pointer allocation for memory management.
Base case precomputes 65,536 8x8 patterns at startup, using bitwise operations and lookup tables to accelerate calculations.
Bounded topologies like toroidal grids are supported via ghost cells and abstraction through LifeDataStructure, LifeAlgorithm, and Topology interfaces.
Exact generation jumps are achieved by decomposing step size into powers of 2 and using a custom cache keyed on node size and generation count.
Graceful stopping with std::jthread and std::stop_token ensures responsiveness and safety during user interruptions.
Thread-local static cache arrays allow efficient, thread-safe sharing of memoized data between simulation and editor threads.
GOLDE's design leverages modern C++23 features for safety and performance, with plans for extensions like multi-state rules and scripting.

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