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Cellular Automata

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Models of Massive Parallelism

Part of the book series: Texts in Theoretical Computer Science. An EATCS Series ((TTCS))

Abstract

In this chapter we define the fundamental concepts and establish our notation. One of the problems in surveying the literature of cellular automata is the great variety of notation and terminology that has been developed over the years by various authors to describe similar concepts and results. As a consequence, many results have been (and continue to be) rediscovered a number of times in a number of guises. Although the definitions, concepts, and notations given in this chapter may not be, in few instances, the most common current use, they at least provide a consistent framework to deal with general types of cellular automata. Moreover, this notational framework can be easily extended to include neural and other types of networks.

Article Note

It always bothers me that according to the laws [of physics] as we understand them today, it takes a computing machine an infinite number of logical operations to figure out what goes on in no matter how tiny a region of space and no matter how tiny a region of time. How can all that be going on in that tiny space? Why should it take an infinite amount of logic to figure out what one tiny piece of space-time is going to do?

Richard Feynman

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Memphis, Winfield Dunn Building, Room 373, 38152, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Prof. Dr. Max Garzon

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  1. Prof. Dr. Max Garzon
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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Garzon, M. (1995). Cellular Automata. In: Models of Massive Parallelism. Texts in Theoretical Computer Science. An EATCS Series. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77905-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77905-3_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-77907-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-77905-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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