NAME:		Life

AUTHOR INFO:	Steve Thorpe
		Application Visualization System Specialist
		International AVS Center
		North Carolina Supercomputing Center
		3021 Cornwallis Road, PO Box 12889
		Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2889
		thorpe@ncsc.org

SOURCE FILES:	life.c

TYPE:		DATA

INPUTS:		Oneshot

OUTPUTS:	field 2D 2-space 4-vector byte (image)

PARAMETERS:     Name			Type		Default	
		X Procs			Integer		150
		Y Procs			Integer		150
		Generations		Integer		50
		Display Every		Integer		1
		Go for it!!		Oneshot

DESCRIPTION:

Life is an implementation of the "Life" problem.  This is an
algorithm where "neighbors", or cells, propagate or die, based on the
proximity of other living neighbors.  In this case, a living neighbor
is represented by a simulation of a processor in the massively parrallel 
Wavetracer being "turned on".   The thoughts behind the algorithm are:  
If there are too many neighbors, a cell will die due to overcrowding.  
If there are too few neighbors, a cell will die due to lack of resources.  

The user is able to control the number of "processors" in the X direction,
the number of "processors" in the Y direction, the number of generations
to compute, and the number of generations to compute between outputs of
an image.  A oneshot parameter, "Go for it!!" is supplied to begin the
execution of the module.

It is meant to be used with the Life_WT AVS module, which is a parrallel
implementation of Life.  As the number of processors increases, the
performance of Life_WT greatly supercedes that of Life, due to the
benefits of the Wavetracer's multiple processors operating in parrallel.

The output from this coroutine module is an AVS image, which can be 
sent to the display_image module for viewing as the computation
progresses.  The user sees a visualization of the processors that are
"alive" at that moment in the computation.


LIMITATIONS:

Life_WT is written in multiC, a fully compatible extension of the ANSI C
programming language.  It was developed using a Data Transport Computer
from Wavetracer, Inc.  You will need a multiC compiler and a Data 
Transport Computer to make use of that module.

The Life_WT AVS module crashes the second time it is run... a quick work
around until this bug is worked out is to "hammer it" after running 
it in a network, then drag it down into your network to run it again.


SAMPLE NETWORK:

			oneshot
			   |
	 -----------------------------------
	 |                                  |
	Life				Life_WT
	 |				    |
	display image			display image