:life: n. 1. A cellular-automata game invented by John Horton
Conway and first introduced publicly by Martin Gardner
("Scientific American", October 1970); the game's popularity
had to wait a few years for computers on which it could reasonably
be played, as it's no fun to simulate the cells by hand. Many
hackers pass through a stage of fascination with it, and hackers at
various places contributed heavily to the mathematical analysis of
this game (most notably Bill Gosper at MIT, who even implemented
life in {TECO}!; see {Gosperism}). When a hacker mentions
`life', he is much more likely to mean this game than the
magazine, the breakfast cereal, or the human state of existence.
2. The opposite of {USENET}. As in "{Get a life!}"
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
Conway and first introduced publicly by Martin Gardner
("Scientific American", October 1970); the game's popularity
had to wait a few years for computers on which it could reasonably
be played, as it's no fun to simulate the cells by hand. Many
hackers pass through a stage of fascination with it, and hackers at
various places contributed heavily to the mathematical analysis of
this game (most notably Bill Gosper at MIT, who even implemented
life in {TECO}!; see {Gosperism}). When a hacker mentions
`life', he is much more likely to mean this game than the
magazine, the breakfast cereal, or the human state of existence.
2. The opposite of {USENET}. As in "{Get a life!}"
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
Related:
- life: n. 1. A cellular-automata game invented by John Horton
Conway and first introduced publicly by Martin Gardner
("Scientific American",
October 1970); the game's popularity had to wait... - SPACEWAR: n. A space-combat simulation game, inspired by
E.
E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" books, in which two spaceships... - Gosperism: /gos'p*r-izm/ A hack, invention, or saying due to
arch-hacker R.
William (Bill) Gosper. This notion merits its own... - phreaking: /freek'ing/ [from `phone phreak'] n. 1. The art and
science of cracking the phone network (so as,
for example, to make free long-distance calls).... - HAKMEM /hak'mem/ n.
MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972).
A legendary collection of neat mathematical and... - Life is a Game;
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and a major role in the development of at least one... - Core Wars: n. A game between `assembler' programs in a
simulated machine,
where the objective is to kill your opponent's program... - phreaking /freek'ing/ n.
[from `phone phreak'] 1.
The art and science of cracking the phone network...
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Edward... - yoyo mode: n. The state in which the system is said to be when it
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Clarence... - Smile!
You're on Candid Camera...
