Cellsprings Help: Demographics Window

The demographics window plots two population variables in realtime as the CA updates. The two variables, both in relative terms, are simply (1) the percentage of cells that are 1-valued and (2) the percentage of cells whose values are different from their values at the last CA step, which metric I refer to as the delta density. Delta density is related to Hamming distance (the number of bit places at which two binary strings differ), which some have seen as an analogue to entropy in the context of CA orbital development.

To watch the demographic history of a CA starting from its zero step, select View | CA Demographics and start the evolution using the popup window's remote control run button. But keep in mind that this window is nonmodal and need not have focus just to record the demographics for later viewing - indeed, the evolution will run faster if the window is in the background or minimized. You can then bring it to the front as desired for viewing.

If you like you can also open the window at any point into an orbit, and it will plot from that point on. This is useful if you want to examine a region well into the orbit without having the horizontal scale compressed.

The window is resizable, and should rescale appropriately if you manually resize it. And, in case you're wondering, you can change CAs or rewind the present orbit while the window is open with no ill effects - it will simply reinitialize in preparation for plotting the new or rewound orbit's demographics.