Langstons_Ant v1.0
written by Steve Sprang

November 25, 1996


What is Langston's Ant?
=======================
At it's simplest, Langston's Ant is a graphics and Game Kit demo. What it really
is, however, is a demonstration of how complexity and order can arise from
simplicity.

I first read about Langston's Ant sometime in the spring of 1994 in Scientific
American (sorry, I can't remember exactly which month). Langston's Ant knows
only two rules:

1) If I am on a black square, paint the square white and turn left.

2) If I am on a white square, paint the square black and turn right.

When the ant first begins executing these rules, things appear pretty random.
The amazing thing, though, is that after executing these two very simple rules many 
times, a pattern begins to emerge. The ant finds itself in a sequence from which it 
can't escape. Well, you'll see for yourself.

My implementation of the ant, starts the little guy off in a circle of random
dots (Another interesting thing is that regardless of the initial set of dots
the ant begins in, it always manages to fall into its inescapable sequence).

I originally coded up the rules for Langston's Ant in HyperTalk on my Macintosh
Quadra during my senior year of high school. The Be/C++ version is (literally)
a million times faster. :)

Usage
=====
After launching Langston's Ant, you can quit by typing Command-Q, or by typing
escape.

Pressing space will clear the screen and start a new ant.

NOTE: If you switch workspaces, make sure to reset the ant before quitting. 
If not, your palette might get mangled. I believe this is my bug.


Distribution
============

Feel free to distribute Langston's Ant in any way that you can. I only ask that
this README file is always included with the executable (and source).

If you make any changes to the source code, please DO NOT distribute it
without first contacting me. No big deal, I just want to know what's out there.



Contact Info
============

Please send all comments or bug reports to me:

Email:  sprang@andrew.cmu.edu
or		ssprang@cs.cmu.edu
		
Permanent Address:
		Steve Sprang
		141 State Route 603
		Shiloh, OH 44878
		
WWW: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/sprang
Be software page: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/sprang/besoft.html

Enjoy!