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Conway's Game Of Life in APL

Dyalog · demo · Watch on YouTube

Programming language designFunctional programmingRecreational & visual math

What it is

A short Dyalog demonstration building Conway's Game of Life in a single line of APL, step by step. It shows how array operations replace loops.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Recommended whenever APL or array languages come up as the quickest way to see why the paradigm is so striking.

  • 11 people recommended it
  • 10 different months
  • 5 strong recommendations
  • first 2010, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “see if you want to immediately fall in love”

    Shows APL's elegant power in Game of Life.

    sblom, 2012-04 · Strong recommendation · in “A Programming Language, now in HTML (50th anniversary)”

  2. “please enjoy this amazing video showing Conway's Game of Life in APL”

    Amazing demonstration of Game of Life in APL.

    jboggan, 2015-06 · Strong recommendation · in “Try APL in your browser”

  3. “it blows my mind”

    Mind-blowing expressivity: Game of Life in about 50 characters.

    sethrin, 2018-07 · Strong recommendation · in “APL at Its Core”

  4. “Try watching this video; it will only take you 8 minutes”

    Short video showing why array languages think differently.

    kragen, 2019-10 · Strong recommendation · in “Loopless Programming”

  5. “Amazing game of life code!”

    Illustrates power of the array paradigm.

    Cactus2018, 2020-08 · Strong recommendation · in “A look at the J language: the fine line between genius and insanity (2012)”

  6. “For an infinitely more relaxing experience of life in APL, may I recommend”

    Relaxing, Bob Ross-like walk through Life in APL.

    rgiar, 2015-10 · Recommendation · in “Conway's Game of Life in One Line of APL (2007)”

  7. “I think it's a fascinating glimpse.”

    Esoteric but fascinating glimpse of APL.

    sp332, 2019-05 · Recommendation · in “Alan Kay on “What Made APL Programming So Revolutionary?””

  8. “see math magic happen”

    APL doing math magic in Game of Life.

    hhas01, 2019-08 · Recommendation · in “A+, the Programming Language of Morgan Stanley”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: apl, game of life, array languages, dyalog, code golf

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