Celullar automata is a discrete model where cells are created/removed based on a set of rules. To give a specific example, the Game of Life, devised by John Conway, is a cellular automaton that forms various patterns throughout the lattice given the following rules:
Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if by underpopulation.
Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overpopulation.
Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.
These simple rules create many interesting patterns depending on the initial state of living cells.The Game of Life wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life) contains some of the frequently occurring patterns . Also, here is my implementation of Game of Life with an added rule of a block shooting out a glider every few seconds (https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/653992)
Celullar automata is a discrete model where cells are created/removed based on a set of rules. To give a specific example, the Game of Life, devised by John Conway, is a cellular automaton that forms various patterns throughout the lattice given the following rules: