Styjun

For my homework, I need to represents cells in a universe where ' * ' indicates a live cell and an empty space (' ') a dead cell. The following rules are used to determine the status of a particular cell in the next generations:

• Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies, as if caused by under population.


• Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives on to the next generation.


• Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies, as if caused by overpopulation.


• Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors becomes a live cell, as if caused by reproduction.

For example, considering the following arrays:

int[][] beehive = 0,0,0,0,0,0, 0,0,1,1,0,0, 0,1,0,0,1,0, 
0,0,1,1,0,0, 0,0,0,0,0,0;
int[][] toad = 0,0,0,0,0,0, 0,0,1,1,1,0, 0,1,1,1,0,0, 0,0,0,0,0,0;

getNextGenCell(beehive, 1, 3) returns 1, while getNextGenCell(beehive, 3, 1) 
returns 0.
getNextGenCell(toad, 0, 3) returns 1, while getNextGenCell(toad, 2, 3) 
returns 0.

I am confused on how to proceed with this code. Any suggestion?

My code has to have the following header where int x represents a sub-array and int y represents an element inside that sub-array. The code returns 1 if the cell is alive in the next generation or 0, otherwise.

 // A method that gets the cell from the next generation

 public static int getNextGenCell(int[][] validUniverse, int x, int y) 


 

You first must determine how you want the logic of your program to flow. In this case, you know there are 8 different cases when traversing the 2D array. These include:

• The upper left-hand corner


• The upper right-hand corner


• The rest of the first row


• The lower left-hand corner


• The lower right-hand corner


• The rest of the last row


• The left and right-hand sides of the array


• The rest of the array

You will need if statements for each of these cases. The following is an an example of the code for "the rest of the array" case:

 if(x!=0&&y!=0&&x!=bees.length-1&&y!=bees[x].length-1&&bees[x][y+1]==1||bees[x][y-1]==1||bees[x+1][y]==1||bees[x-1][y]==1)

Now just finish the other 7 cases, count the amount of "alive" or "dead" cells and modify the array accordingly. Let me know if you have any questions.