We explore textual representations of small patterns that result in infinite growth in Conway's game of life (link is the source of the images). All of these patterns become Corderman's switch-engine puffer.
The 10-cell minimal population pattern as a list of coordinates:
0 1
1 0
1 1
1 2
3 1
3 2
3 3
5 4
5 5
7 5
What is a minimal traveling salesman path through all the points using the Manhattan distance metric? Then the set can be encoded as 9 delta vectors.
The 1-cell-thick pattern run-length encoded with live cells alternating with dead cells: 8 1 5 3 3 6 7 1 5. There are probably shorter instances of infinite growth minimizing textual length of RLE, probably sum of logarithms.
The 5-by-5 pattern read in rows as binary numbers, then translated to letters from A=0 through Z=25: VWYBX. We chose an orientation for which values 26 through 31 do not occur.
The minimal-area pattern, 2 cells thick, as two 12-bit binary numbers converted to decimal: 2495 3033.
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