Golly for MAC
Free, open-source Mac app for exploring Conway's Game of Life and other cellular automata, with the fast hashlife algorithm and a large pattern set.
Golly Overview
Golly is an application for exploring John Conway's Game of Life and many other types of cellular automata. It supports bounded and unbounded universes with cells of up to 256 states, and several algorithms, including Bill Gosper's very fast hashlife. It stays responsive while generating, and it comes with a state-of-the-art collection of patterns to open straight away.
Many types of automata are included, such as John von Neumann's 29-state rules, Wolfram's 1D rules, WireWorld, Generations and Larger than Life, and the RuleLoader algorithm lets you add new rules. Golly is free and open source under the GNU GPL, version 2 or later, and is written by The Golly Gang; the primary authors are Andrew Trevorrow and Tom Rokicki. Version 5.0 adds folder commands to the File menu and raises the Larger than Life grid limit. Golly's site lists macOS 10.11 or later for the Mac version. One limitation to know: Golly 5.0 no longer supports .table, .tree, .colors and .icons files.
Key Features
Golly is built for watching very large patterns evolve.
- Hashlife: Bill Gosper's very fast algorithm, among others.
- Many automata: von Neumann, Wolfram 1D, WireWorld, Generations and more.
- Your own rules: the RuleLoader algorithm plugs in new ones.
- Pattern collection: a state-of-the-art set is included.
- File formats: reads RLE, macrocell, Life 1.05/1.06, dblife and MCell files.
- Online archives: downloads patterns, rules and scripts.
- Layers: multiple layers, including cloned layers.
- Scripting: scriptable with Lua or Python.
What’s New in Version 5.0
Golly 5.0 brings new commands, wider file support and fixes for the Mac app.
- Add Folder and Remove Folder commands in the File menu
- Stop If Dead option in the Control menu and Show XY State in the View menu
- Support for @NAMES in .rule files and @RULE data in .rle files
- Larger than Life grid limit raised from 100 million to 1 billion cells
- Support removed for .table, .tree, .colors and .icons files
- Cosmetic fixes to state boxes, directory icons and the About dialog on macOS
Golly FAQ
Is Golly free?
Yes. Golly is free and open source under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later.
What is Golly used for?
It is used to explore John Conway's Game of Life and many other types of cellular automata.
Which macOS version does Golly need?
Golly's site lists macOS 10.11 or later.
What is hashlife?
Hashlife is Bill Gosper's very fast algorithm for generating patterns. It is one of several algorithms Golly supports.
Does Golly only run the Game of Life?
No. It also includes von Neumann's 29-state rules, Wolfram's 1D rules, WireWorld, Generations, Larger than Life and others, and RuleLoader lets you add new rules.
Which pattern files can Golly open?
It reads RLE, macrocell, Life 1.05/1.06, dblife and MCell files, and common graphic formats: BMP, PNG, GIF and TIFF. It can also extract patterns, rules and scripts from zip files.
Can I write scripts for Golly?
Yes. Golly is scriptable with Lua or Python 3.3 and later.
Do old .table and .tree rule files still work?
No. Golly 5.0 no longer supports .table, .tree, .colors and .icons files.
Can I install Golly with Homebrew?
Yes. Run brew install --cask golly.
Where does the Golly download on golly.FULLMAC.app come from?
The download button leads to the official Golly files on SourceForge at https://sourceforge.net/projects/golly/files/golly/golly-5.0/. golly.FULLMAC.app does not change or repackage the app.
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FULLMAC.app does not host this app. Download buttons lead to the developer’s own pages.