# DynamicGrids

DynamicGridsModule

DynamicGrids is a generalised framework for building high-performance grid-based spatial simulations, including cellular automata, but also allowing a wider range of behaviours like random jumps and interactions between multiple grids. It is extended by Dispersal.jl for modelling organism dispersal processes.

DynamicGridsGtk.jl provides a simple live interface, while DynamicGridsInteract.jl also has live control over model parameters while the simulation runs: real-time visual feedback for manual parametrisation and model exploration.

DynamicGrids can run rules on single CPUs, threaded CPUs, and on CUDA GPUs. Simulation run-time is usually measured in fractions of a second.

A dispersal simulation with quarantine interactions, using Dispersal.jl, custom rules and the GtkOuput from DynamicGridsGtk. Note that this is indicative of the real-time frame-rate on a laptop.

A DynamicGrids.jl simulation is run with a script like this one running the included game of life model Life():

using DynamicGrids, Crayons

init = rand(Bool, 150, 200)
output = REPLOutput(init; tspan=1:200, fps=30, color=Crayon(foreground=:red, background=:black, bold=true))
sim!(output, Life())

# Or define it from scratch (yes this is actually the whole implementation!)
const sum_states = (false, false, true, false, false, false, false, false, false),
(false, false, true, true,  false, false, false, false, false)
life = Neighbors(Moore(1)) do hood, state
sum_states[state + 1][sum(hood) + 1]
end
sim!(output, life)

A game of life simulation being displayed directly in a terminal.

Concepts

The framework is highly customisable, but there are some central ideas that define how a simulation works: grids, rules, and outputs.

Grids

Simulations run over one or many grids, derived from init of a single AbstractArray or a NamedTuple of multiple AbstractArray. Grids (GridData types) are, however not a single array but both source and destination arrays, to maintain independence between cell reads and writes where required. These may be padded or otherwise altered for specific performance optimisations. However, broadcasted getindex operations are guaranteed to work on them as if the grid is a regular array. This may be useful running simulations manually with step!.

Usually grids contain values of Number, but other types are possible, such as SArray, FieldVector or other custom structs. Grids are updated by Rules that are run for every cell, at every timestep.

The init grid/s contain whatever initialisation data is required to start a simulation: the array type, size and element type, as well as providing the initial conditions:

init = rand(Float32, 100, 100)

An init grid can be attached to an Output:

output = ArrayOutput(init; tspan=1:100)

or passed in to sim!, where it will take preference over the init attached to the Output, but must be the same type and size:

sim!(output, ruleset; init=init)

For multiple grids, init is a NamedTuple of equal-sized arrays matching the names used in each Ruleset :

init = (predator=rand(100, 100), prey=(rand(100, 100))

Handling and passing of the correct grids to a Rule is automated by DynamicGrids.jl, as a no-cost abstraction. Rules specify which grids they require in what order using the first two (R and W) type parameters.

Dimensional or spatial init grids from DimensionalData.jl or GeoData.jl will propagate through the model to return output with explicit dimensions. This will plot correctly as a map using Plots.jl, to which shape files and observation points can be easily added.

Non-Number Grids

Grids containing custom and non-Number types are possible, with some caveats. They must define Base.zero for their element type, and should be a bitstype for performance. Tuple does not define zero. Array is not a bitstype, and does not define zero. SArray from StaticArrays.jl is both, and can be used as the contents of a grid. Custom structs that defne zero should also work.

However, for any multi-values grid element type, you will need to define a method of DynamicGrids.to_rgb that returns an ARGB32 for them to work in ImageOutputs, and isless for the REPLoutput to work. A definition for multiplication by a scalar Real and addition are required to use Convolution kernels.

Rules

Rules hold the parameters for running a simulation, and are applied in applyrule method that is called for each of the active cells in the grid. Rules come in a number of flavours (outlined in the docs), which allow assumptions to be made about running them that can greatly improve performance. Rules can be collected in a Ruleset, with some additional arguments to control the simulation:

ruleset = Ruleset(Life(2, 3); opt=SparseOpt(), proc=CuGPU())

Multiple rules can be combined in a Ruleset or simply passed to sim!. Each rule will be run for the whole grid, in sequence, using appropriate optimisations depending on the parent types of each rule:

ruleset = Ruleset(rule1, rule2; timestep=Day(1), opt=SparseOpt(), proc=ThreadedCPU())

Output

Outputs are ways of storing or viewing a simulation. They can be used interchangeably depending on your needs: ArrayOutput is a simple storage structure for high performance-simulations. As with most outputs, it is initialised with the init array, but in this case it also requires the number of simulation frames to preallocate before the simulation runs.

output = ArrayOutput(init; tspan=1:10)

The REPLOutput shown above is a GraphicOutput that can be useful for checking a simulation when working in a terminal or over ssh:

output = REPLOutput(init; tspan=1:100)

ImageOutput is the most complex class of outputs, allowing full color visual simulations using ColorSchemes.jl. It can also display multiple grids using color composites or layouts, as shown above in the quarantine simulation.

DynamicGridsInteract.jl provides simulation interfaces for use in Juno, Jupyter, web pages or electron apps, with live interactive control over parameters, using ModelParameters.jl. DynamicGridsGtk.jl is a simple graphical output for Gtk. These packages are kept separate to avoid dependencies when being used in non-graphical simulations.

Outputs are also easy to write, and high performance applications may benefit from writing a custom output to reduce memory use, or using TransformedOuput. Performance of DynamicGrids.jl is dominated by cache interactions, so reducing memory use has positive effects.

Example

This example implements the classic stochastic forest fire model in a few different ways, and benchmarks them.

First we will define a Forest Fire algorithm that sets the current cell to burning, if a neighbor is burning. Dead cells can come back to life, and living cells can spontaneously catch fire:

using DynamicGrids, ColorSchemes, Colors, BenchmarkTools

const DEAD, ALIVE, BURNING = 1, 2, 3

neighbors_rule = let prob_combustion=0.0001, prob_regrowth=0.01
Neighbors(Moore(1)) do neighborhood, cell
if cell == ALIVE
if BURNING in neighborhood
BURNING
else
rand() <= prob_combustion ? BURNING : ALIVE
end
elseif cell == BURNING
else
rand() <= prob_regrowth ? ALIVE : DEAD
end
end
end

# Set up the init array and output (using a Gtk window)
init = fill(ALIVE, 400, 400)
output = GifOutput(init;
filename="forestfire.gif", tspan=1:200, fps=25,
imagegen=Image(scheme=ColorSchemes.rainbow, zerocolor=RGB24(0.0))
)

# Run the simulation, which will save a gif when it completes
sim!(output, neighbors_rule)

Timing the simulation for 200 steps, the performance is quite good. This particular CPU has six cores, and we get a 5.25x speedup by using all of them, which indicates good scaling:

bench_output = ResultOutput(init; tspan=1:200)

julia> @btime sim!($bench_output,$neighbors_rule);
477.183 ms (903 allocations: 2.57 MiB)

julia> @btime sim!($bench_output,$neighbors_rule; proc=ThreadedCPU());
91.321 ms (15188 allocations: 4.07 MiB)

We can also invert the algorithm, setting cells in the neighborhood to burning if the current cell is burning, by using the SetNeighbors rule:

setneighbors_rule = let prob_combustion=0.0001, prob_regrowth=0.01
SetNeighbors(Moore(1)) do data, neighborhood, cell, I
if rand() <= prob_regrowth
data[I...] = ALIVE
end
elseif cell == BURNING
for pos in positions(neighborhood, I)
if data[pos...] == ALIVE
data[pos...] = BURNING
end
end
elseif cell == ALIVE
if rand() <= prob_combustion
data[I...] = BURNING
end
end
end
end

Note: we are not using add!, instead we just set the grid value directly. This usually risks errors if multiple cells set different values. Here they only ever set a currently living cell to burning in the next timestep. It doesn't matter if this happens multiple times, the result is the same.

And in this case (a fairly sparse simulation), this rule is faster:

julia> @btime sim!($bench_output,$setneighbors_rule);
261.969 ms (903 allocations: 2.57 MiB)

julia> @btime sim!($bench_output,$setneighbors_rule; proc=ThreadedCPU());
65.489 ms (7154 allocations: 3.17 MiB)

But the scaling is not quite as good, at 3.9x for 6 cores. The first method may be better on a machine with a lot of cores.

Last, we can slightly rewrite these rules for GPU, as rand is not available within a GPU kernel. Instead we call CUDA.rand! on the entire parent array of the :rand grid, using a SetGrid rule:

using CUDAKernels, CUDA

randomiser = SetGrid{Tuple{},:rand}() do randgrid
CUDA.rand!(parent(randgrid))
end

Now we define a Neighbors version for GPU, using the :rand grid values instead of rand():

neighbors_gpu = let prob_combustion=0.0001, prob_regrowth=0.01
Neighbors{Tuple{:ff,:rand},:ff}(Moore(1)) do neighborhood, (cell, rand)
if cell == ALIVE
if BURNING in neighborhood
BURNING
else
rand <= prob_combustion ? BURNING : ALIVE
end
elseif cell == BURNING
else
rand <= prob_regrowth ? ALIVE : DEAD
end
end
end

And a SetNeighbors version for GPU:

setneighbors_gpu = let prob_combustion=0.0001, prob_regrowth=0.01
SetNeighbors{Tuple{:ff,:rand},:ff}(Moore(1)) do data, neighborhood, (cell, rand), I
if rand <= prob_regrowth
data[:ff][I...] = ALIVE
end
elseif cell == BURNING
for pos in positions(neighborhood, I)
if data[:ff][pos...] == ALIVE
data[:ff][pos...] = BURNING
end
end
elseif cell == ALIVE
if rand <= prob_combustion
data[:ff][I...] = BURNING
end
end
end
end

Now we benchmark both version on a GTX 1080. Despite the overhead of reading and writing two grids, this turns out to be even faster again:

bench_output_rand = ResultOutput((ff=init, rand=zeros(size(init))); tspan=1:200)

julia> @btime sim!($bench_output_rand,$randomiser, $neighbors_gpu; proc=CuGPU()); 30.621 ms (186284 allocations: 17.19 MiB) julia> @btime sim!($bench_output_rand, $randomiser,$setneighbors_gpu; proc=CuGPU());
22.685 ms (147339 allocations: 15.61 MiB)

That is, we are running the rule at a rate of 1.4 billion times per second. These timings could be improved (maybe 10-20%) by using grids of Int32 or Int16 to use less memory and cache. But we will stop here!

Alternatives

Agents.jl can also do cellular-automata style simulations. The design of Agents.jl is to iterate over a list of agents, instead of broadcasting over an array of cells. This approach is well suited to when you need to track the movement and details about individual agents throughout the simulation.

However, for simple grid models where you don't need to track individuals, DynamicGrids.jl is orders of magnitude faster than Agents.jl, and usually requires less code to define a model. For low-density simulations like the forest fire model above, it can be one or two orders of magnitudes faster, while for higher activity rules like the game of life on a randomised grid, it is two to three, even four order of magnitude faster, increasing with grid size. If you are doing grid-based simulation and you don't need to track individual agents, DynamicGrids.jl is probably the best tool. For other use cases where you need to track individuals, try Agents.jl.

source

## Running simulations

DynamicGrids.sim!Function
sim!(output, rules::Rule...; kw...)
sim!(output, rules::Tuple{<:Rule,Vararg}; kw...)
sim!(output, [ruleset::Ruleset=ruleset(output)]; kw...)

Runs the simulation, passing the destination aray to the passed in output for each time-step.

Arguments

Keywords

Theses are the taken from the output argument by default:

• init: optional array or NamedTuple of arrays.
• mask: a Bool array matching the init array size. false cells do not run.
• aux: a NamedTuple of auxilary data to be used by rules.
• tspan: a tuple holding the start and end of the timespan the simulaiton will run for.
• fps: the frames per second to display. Will be taken from the output if not passed in.

Theses are the taken from the ruleset argument by default:

Other:

• simdata: a SimData object. Keeping it between simulations can reduce memory allocation a little, when that is important.
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DynamicGrids.resume!Function
resume!(output::GraphicOutput, ruleset::Ruleset=ruleset(output); tstop, kw...)

Restart the simulation from where you stopped last time. For arguments see sim!. The keyword arg tstop can be used to extend the length of the simulation.

Arguments

Keyword Arguments (optional

• init: an optional initialisation array
• tstop: the new stop time for the simulation. Taken from the output length by default.
• fps: the frames per second to display. Taken from the output by default.
• simdata: a SimData object. Keeping it between simulations can improve performance when that is important
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DynamicGrids.step!Function
step!(sd::AbstractSimData, rules=rules(sd))

Allows stepping a simulation one frame at a time, for a more manual approach to simulation that sim!. This may be useful if other processes need to be run between steps, or the simulation is of variable length. step! also removes the use of Outputs, meaning storing of grid data must be handled manually, if that is required. Of course, an output can also be updated manually, using:

DynmicGrids.storeframe!(output, simdata)

Instead of an Output, the internal SimData objects are used directly, and can be defined using a Extent object and a Ruleset.

Example

ruleset = Ruleset(myrules; proc=ThreadedCPU())
extent = Extent(; init=(a=A, b=B), aux=aux, tspan=tspan)
simdata = SimData(extent, ruleset)
# Run a single step, which returns an updated SimData object
simdata = step!(simdata)
# Get a view of the grid without padding, for NeighborhoodRule/SetNeighborhoodRule
DynmicGrids.gridview(simdata[:a])

This example returns a GridData object for the :a grid, which is <: AbstractAray.

source

## Rulesets

DynamicGrids.RulesetType
Rulseset <: AbstractRuleset

Ruleset(rules...; kw...)
Ruleset(rules, settings)

A container for holding a sequence of Rules and simulation details like boundary handing and optimisation. Rules will be run in the order they are passed, ie. Ruleset(rule1, rule2, rule3).

Keywords

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## Options/Flags

### Boundary conditions

DynamicGrids.WrapType
Wrap <: BoundaryCondition

Wrap()

BoundaryCondition flag to wrap cordinates that boundary boundaries back to the opposite side of the grid.

Specifiy with:

ruleset = Ruleset(rule; boundary=Wrap())
# or
output = sim!(output, rule; boundary=Wrap())
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DynamicGrids.RemoveType
Remove <: BoundaryCondition

Remove()

BoundaryCondition flag that specifies to assign padval to cells that overflow grid boundaries. padval defaults to zero(eltype(grid)) but can be assigned as a keyword argument to an Output.

Specifiy with:

ruleset = Ruleset(rule; boundary=Remove())
# or
output = sim!(output, rule; boundary=Remove())
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### Hardware selection

DynamicGrids.SingleCPUType
SingleCPU <: CPU

SingleCPU()

Processor flag that specifies to use a single thread on a single CPU.

Specifiy with:

ruleset = Ruleset(rule; proc=SingleCPU())
# or
output = sim!(output, rule; proc=SingleCPU())
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DynamicGrids.ThreadedCPUType
ThreadedCPU <: CPU

ThreadedCPU()

Processor flag that specifies to use a Threads.nthreads() CPUs.

Specifiy with:

ruleset = Ruleset(rule; proc=ThreadedCPU())
# or
output = sim!(output, rule; proc=ThreadedCPU())
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DynamicGrids.CuGPUType
CuGPU <: GPU

CuGPU()
CuGPU{threads_per_block}()
ruleset = Ruleset(rule; proc=CuGPU())
# or
output = sim!(output, rule; proc=CuGPU())
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### Performance optimisation

DynamicGrids.NoOptType
NoOpt <: PerformanceOpt

NoOpt()

Flag to run a simulation without performance optimisations besides basic high performance programming. Still fast, but not intelligent about the work that it does: all cells are run for all rules.

NoOpt is the default opt method.

source
DynamicGrids.SparseOptType
SparseOpt <: PerformanceOpt

SparseOpt()

An optimisation flag that ignores all zero values in the grid.

For low-density simulations performance may improve by orders of magnitude, as only used cells are run.

This is complicated for optimising neighborhoods - they must run if they contain just one non-zero cell.

Specifiy with:

ruleset = Ruleset(rule; opt=SparseOpt())
# or
output = sim!(output, rule; opt=SparseOpt())

SparseOpt is best demonstrated with this simulation, where the grey areas do not run except where the neighborhood partially hangs over an area that is not grey:

source

## Rules

DynamicGrids.RuleType
Rule

A Rule object contains the information required to apply an applyrule method to every cell of every timestep of a simulation.

The applyrule method follows the form:

@inline applyrule(data::AbstractSimData, rule::YourRule, state, I::Tuple{Int,Int}) = ...

Where I is the cell index, and state is a single value, or a NamedTuple if multiple grids are requested. the AbstractSimData object can be used to access current timestep and other simulation data and metadata.

Rules can be updated from the original rule before each timestep, in modifyrule:

modifyrule(rule::YourRule, data::AbstractSimData) = ...

Rules can also be run in sequence, as a Tuple or in a Rulesets.

DynamicGrids guarantees that:

• modifyrule is run once for every rule for every timestep. The result is passed to applyrule, but not retained after that.
• applyrule is run once for every rule, for every cell, for every timestep, unless an optimisation like SparseOpt is enable to skips empty cells.
• the output of running a rule for any cell does not affect the input of the same rule running anywhere else in the grid.
• rules later in the sequence are passed grid state updated by the earlier rules.
• masked areas and wrapped or removed boundary regions are updated between all rules and timesteps.

Multiple grids

The NamedTuple keys will match the grid keys in R, which is a type like Tuple{:key1,:key1}. Note the names are user-specified, and should never be fixed by a Rule.

Read grid names be retrieved from the type here as R1 and R2, while write grids are W1 and W2.

applyrule(data::AbstractSimData, rule::YourCellRule{Tuple{R1,R2},Tuple{W1,W2}}, state, I) where {R1,R2,W1,W2}

By default the output is written to the current cell in the specified W write grid/s. Rules writing to multiple grids, simply return a Tuple in the order specified by the W type params.

Rule Performance

Rules may run many millions of times during a simulation. They need to be fast. Some basic guidlines for writing rules are:

• Never allocate memory in a Rule if you can help it.
• Type stability is essential. isinferred is useful to check if your rule is type-stable.
• Using the @inline macro on applyrule can help force inlining your code into the simulation.
• Reading and writing from multiple grids is expensive due to additional load on fast cahce memory. Try to limit the number of grids you use.
• Use a graphical profiler, like ProfileView.jl, to check your rules overall performance when run with sim!.
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### CellRule

DynamicGrids.CellRuleType
Cellrule <: Rule

A Rule that only writes and uses a state from single cell of the read grids, and has its return value written back to the same cell(s).

This limitation can be useful for performance optimisation, such as wrapping rules in Chain so that no writes occur between rules.

CellRule is defined with :

struct YourCellRule{R,W} <: CellRule{R,W} end

And applied as:

function applyrule(data::AbstractSimData, rule::YourCellRule{R,W}, state, I) where {R,W}
state * 2
end

As the index I is provided in applyrule, you can use it to look up Aux data.

source
DynamicGrids.CellType
Call <: CellRule

Cell(f)
Cell{R,W}(f)

A CellRule that applies a function f to the R grid value, or Tuple of values, and returns the W grid value or Tuple of values.

Especially convenient with do notation.

Example

Double the cell value in grid :a:

simplerule = Cell{Tuple{:a}() do a
2a
end

If you need to use multiple grids (a and b), use the R and W type parameters. If you want to use external variables, wrap the whole thing in a let block, for performance. This rule sets the new value of b to the value of a to b times scalar y:

rule = let y = y
rule = Cell{Tuple{:a,:b},:b}() do (a, b)
a + b * y
end
end
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DynamicGrids.CopyToType
CopyTo <: CellRule

CopyTo{W}(from)
CopyTo{W}(; from)

A simple rule that copies aux array slices to a grid over time. This can be used for comparing simulation dynamics to aux data dynamics.

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### NeighborhoodRule

DynamicGrids.NeighborhoodRuleType
NeighborhoodRule <: Rule

A Rule that only accesses a neighborhood centered around the current cell. NeighborhoodRule is applied with the method:

applyrule(data::AbstractSimData, rule::YourNeighborhoodRule, state, I::Tuple{Int,Int})

NeighborhoodRule must have a neighborhood method or field, that holds a Neighborhood object. neighbors(rule) returns an iterator over the surrounding cell pattern defined by the Neighborhood.

For each cell in the grids the neighborhood buffer will be updated for use in the applyrule method, managed to minimise array reads.

This allows memory optimisations and the use of high-perforance routines on the neighborhood buffer. It also means that and no bounds checking is required in neighborhood code.

For neighborhood rules with multiple read grids, the first is always the one used for the neighborhood, the others are passed in as additional state for the cell. Any grids can be written to, but only for the current cell.

source
DynamicGrids.NeighborsType
Neighbors <: NeighborhoodRule

Neighbors(f, neighborhood=Moor(1))
Neighbors{R,W}(f, neighborhood=Moore())

A NeighborhoodRule that receives a Neighborhood object for the first R grid, followed by the cell value/s for the required grids, as with Cell.

Returned value(s) are written to the W grid/s.

As with all NeighborhoodRule, you do not have to check bounds at grid edges, that is handled for you internally.

Using SparseOpt may improve neighborhood performance when a specific value (often zero) is common and can be safely ignored.

Example

Runs the game of life on grid :a:

const sum_states = (0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0),
(0, 0, 1, 1,  0, 0, 0, 0, 0)
life = Neighbors{:a}(Moore(1)) do hood, a
sum_states[a + 1][sum(hood) + 1]
end
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DynamicGrids.ConvolutionType
Convolution <: NeighborhoodRule

Convolution(kernel::AbstractArray)
Convolution{R,W}(kernel::AbstractArray)

A NeighborhoodRule that runs a convolution kernel over the grid.

kernel must be a square matrix.

Performance

Small radius convolutions in DynamicGrids.jl will be comparable or even faster than using DSP.jl or ImageConvolutions.jl. As the radius increases these packages will be a lot faster.

But Convolution is convenient to chain into a simulation, and combined with some other rules. It should perform reasonably well with all but very large kernels.

Example

rule = Convolution([0.05 0.1 0.05; 0.1 0.4 0.1; 0.05 0.1 0.05])
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DynamicGrids.LifeType
Life <: NeighborhoodRule

Life(neighborhood, born=3, survive=(2, 3))

Rule for game-of-life style cellular automata. This is a demonstration of Cellular Automata more than a seriously optimised game of life rule.

Cells becomes active if it is empty and the number of neightbors is a number in the born, and remains active the cell is active and the number of neightbors is in survive.

Examples (gleaned from CellularAutomata.jl)

using DynamicGrids, Distributions

# Use Binomial to tweak the density random true values
init = Bool.(rand(Binomial(1, 0.5), 70, 70))
output = REPLOutput(init; tspan=1:100, fps=25, color=:red)

# Morley
sim!(output, Ruleset(Life(born=[3, 6, 8], survive=[2, 4, 5])))

# 2x2
sim!(output, Ruleset(Life(born=[3, 6], survive=[1, 2, 5])))

# Dimoeba
init = rand(Bool, 400, 300)
init[:, 100:200] .= 0
output = REPLOutput(init; tspan=1:100, fps=25, color=:blue, style=Braile())
sim!(output, Life(born=(3, 5, 6, 7, 8),  survive=(5, 6, 7, 8)))

## No death
sim!(output, Life(born=(3,),  survive=(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)))

## 34 life
sim!(output, Life(born=(3, 4), survive=(3, 4)))

# Replicator
init = fill(true, 300,300)
init[:, 100:200] .= false
init[10, :] .= 0
output = REPLOutput(init; tspan=1:100, fps=25, color=:yellow)
sim!(output, Life(born=(1, 3, 5, 7),  survive=(1, 3, 5, 7)))
nothing

# output


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### SetCellRule

DynamicGrids.SetCellRuleType
SetCellRule <: Rule

Abstract supertype for rules that can manually write to any cells of the grid that they need to.

SetCellRule is applied with a method like this, that simply adds 1 to the current cell:

function applyrule!(data::AbstractSimData, rule::YourSetCellRule, state, I)
return nothing
end

Note the ! bang - this method alters the state of data.

To update the grid, you can use atomic operators add!, sub!, min!, max!, and and!, or! for Bool. These methods safely combined writes from all grid cells - directly using setindex! would cause bugs.

It there are multiple write grids, you will need to get the grid keys from type parameters, here W1 and W2:

function applyrule(data, rule::YourSetCellRule{R,Tuple{W1,W2}}, state, I) where {R,W1,W2}
return nothing
end

DynamicGrids guarantees that:

• values written to anywhere on the grid do not affect other cells in the same rule at the same timestep.
• values written to anywhere on the grid are available to the next rule in the sequence, or the next timestep.
• if atomic operators are always used, race conditions will not occur on any hardware.
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DynamicGrids.SetCellType
SetCell <: SetCellRule

SetCell(f)
SetCell{R,W}(f)

A SetCellRule to manually write to the array where you need to. f is passed a AbstractSimData object, the grid state or Tuple of grid states for the cell and a Tuple{Int,Int} index of the current cell.

To update the grid, you can use: add!, sub! for Number, and and!, or! for Bool. These methods safely combined writes from all grid cells - directly using setindex! would cause bugs.

Example

Choose a destination cell and if it is in the grid, update it based on the state of both grids:

rule = SetCell{Tuple{:a,:b},:b}() do data, (a, b), I
dest = your_dest_pos_func(I)
if isinbounds(data, dest)
destval = your_dest_val_func(a, b)
end
end
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### SetNeighborhoodRule

DynamicGrids.SetNeighborhoodRuleType
SetNeighborhoodRule <: SetRule

A SetRule that only writes to its neighborhood, and does not need to bounds-check.

positions and offsets are useful iterators for modifying neighborhood values.

SetNeighborhoodRule rules must return a Neighborhood object from the function neighborhood(rule). By default this is rule.neighborhood. If this property exists, no interface methods are required.

source
DynamicGrids.SetNeighborsType
SetNeighbors <: SetNeighborhoodRule

SetNeighbors(f, neighborhood=Moor(1))
SetNeighbors{R,W}(f, neighborhood=Moor(1))

A SetCellRule to manually write to the array with the specified neighborhood. Indexing outside the neighborhood is undefined behaviour.

Function f is passed four arguments: a SimData object, the specified Neighborhood object, the grid state or Tuple of grid states for the cell, and the Tuple{Int,Int} index of the current cell.

To update the grid, you can use: add!, sub! for Number, and and!, or! for Bool. These methods can be safely combined writes from all grid cells.

Directly using setindex! is possible, but may cause bugs as multiple cells may write to the same location in an unpredicatble order. As a rule, directly setting a neighborhood index should only be done if it always sets the samevalue - then it can be guaranteed that any writes from othe grid cells reach the same result.

neighbors, offsets and positions are useful methods for SetNeighbors rules.

Example

This example adds a value to all neighbors:

rule = SetNeighbors{:a}() do data, neighborhood, a, I
for pos in positions(neighborhood)
end
end
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### SetGridRule

DynamicGrids.SetGridRuleType
SetGridRule <: Rule

A Rule applies to whole grids. This is used for operations that don't benefit from having neighborhood buffering or looping over the grid handled for them, or any specific optimisations. Best suited to simple functions like rand!(grid) or using convolutions from other packages like DSP.jl. They may also be useful for doing other custom things that don't fit into the DynamicGrids.jl framework during the simulation.

Grid rules specify the grids they want and are sequenced just like any other grid.

struct YourSetGridRule{R,W} <: SetGridRule{R,W} end

And applied as:

function applyrule!(data::AbstractSimData, rule::YourSetGridRule{R,W}) where {R,W}
rand!(data[W])
end
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DynamicGrids.SetGridType
SetGrid{R,W}(f)

Apply a function f to fill whole grid/s.

Example

This example sets grid a to equal grid b:

rule = SetGrid{:a,:b}() do a, b
b .= a
end
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### Rule wrappers

DynamicGrids.ChainType
Chain(rules...)
Chain(rules::Tuple)

Chains allow chaining rules together to be completed in a single processing step, without intermediate reads or writes from grids.

They are potentially compiled together into a single function call, especially if you use @inline on all applyrule methods. Chain can hold either all CellRule or NeighborhoodRule followed by CellRule.

SetRule can't be used in Chain, as it doesn't have a return value.

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DynamicGrids.RunIfType
RunIf(f, rule)

RunIfs allows wrapping a rule in a condition, passed the SimData object and the cell state and index.

$julia RunIf(dispersal) do data, state, I state >= oneunit(state) end$

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DynamicGrids.RunAtType
RunAt(rules...)
RunAt(rules::Tuple)

RunAts allow running a Rule or multiple Rules at a lower frequeny than the main simulation, using a range matching the main tspan but with a larger span, or specific events - by using a vector of arbitrary times in tspan.

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### Parameter sources

DynamicGrids.AuxType
Aux <: ParameterSource

Aux{K}()
Aux(K::Symbol)

Use auxilary array with key K as a parameter source.

Implemented in rules with:

get(data, rule.myparam, index...)

When an Aux param is specified at rule construction with:

rule = SomeRule(; myparam=Aux{:myaux})
output = ArrayOutput(init; aux=(myaux=myauxarray,))

If the array is a DimensionalData.jl DimArray with a Ti (time) dimension, the correct interval will be selected automatically, precalculated for each timestep so it has no significant overhead.

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DynamicGrids.GridType
Grid <: ParameterSource

Grid{K}()
Grid(K::Symbol)

Use grid with key K as a parameter source.

Implemented in rules with:

get(data, rule.myparam, index...)

And specified at rule construction with:

SomeRule(; myparam=Grid{:somegrid})
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DynamicGrids.DelayType
Delay <: AbstractDelay

Delay{K}(steps)

Delay allows using a Grid from previous timesteps as a parameter source as a field in any Rule that uses get to retrieve it's parameters.

It must be coupled with an output that stores all frames, so that @assert DynamicGrids.isstored(output) == true. With GraphicOutputs this may be acheived by using the keyword argument store=true when constructing the output object.

Type Parameters

• K::Symbol: matching the name of a grid in init.

Arguments

• steps: As a user supplied parameter, this is a multiple of the step size of the output tspan. This is automatically replaced with an integer for each step. Used within the code in a rule, it must be an Int number of frames, for performance.

Example

$julia SomeRule(; someparam=Delay(:grid_a, Month(3)) otherparam=1.075 )$

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DynamicGrids.FrameType
Frame <: AbstractDelay

Frame{K}(frame)

Frame allows using a Grid from a specific previous timestep from within a rule, using get. It should only be used within rule code, not as a parameter.

Type Parameter

• K::Symbol: matching the name of a grid in init.

Argument

• frame::Int: the exact frame number to use.
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DynamicGrids.LagType
Lag <: AbstractDelay

Lag{K}(frames::Int)

Lag allows using a Grid from a specific previous frame from within a rule, using get. It is similar to Delay, but an integer amount of steps should be used, instead of a quantity related to the simulation tspan. Used within rule code, the lower bound will not be checked. Do this manually, or use Frame instead.

Type Parameter

• K::Symbol: matching the name of a grid in init.

Argument

• frames::Int: number of frames to lag by, 1 or larger.

Example

$julia SomeRule(; someparam=Delay(:grid_a, Month(3)) otherparam=1.075 )$

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### Custom Rule interface and helpers

DynamicGrids.applyruleFunction
applyrule(data::AbstractSimData, rule::Rule{R,W}, state, index::Tuple{Int,Int}) -> cell value(s)

Apply a rule to the cell state and return values to write to the grid(s).

This is called in maprule! methods during the simulation, not by the user. Custom Rule implementations must define this method.

Arguments:

Returns the value(s) to be written to the current cell(s) of the grids specified by the W type parameter.

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DynamicGrids.applyrule!Function
applyrule!(data::AbstractSimData, rule::{R,W}, state, index::Tuple{Int,Int}) -> Nothing

Apply a rule to the cell state and manually write to the grid data array. Used in all rules inheriting from SetCellRule.

This is called in internal maprule! methods during the simulation, not by the user. Custom SetCellRule implementations must define this method.

Only grids specified with the W type parameter will be writable from data.

Arguments:

• data : AbstractSimData
• rule : Rule
• state: the value(s) of the current cell
• index: a (row, column) tuple of Int for the current cell coordinates - t: the current time step
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DynamicGrids.modifyruleFunction
modifyrule(rule::Rule, data::AbstractSimData) -> Rule

Precalculates rule fields at each timestep. Define this method if a Rule has fields that need to be updated over time.

Rules are usually immutable (it's faster), so precalc is expected to returns a new rule object with changes applied to it. Setfield.jl or Acessors.jl may help with updating the immutable struct.

The default behaviour is to return the existing rule without change.

Updated rules are be discarded, and the rule argument is always be the original object passed in.

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DynamicGrids.isinferredFunction
isinferred(output::Output, ruleset::Ruleset)
isinferred(output::Output, rules::Rule...)

Test if a custom rule is inferred and the return type is correct when applyrule or applyrule! is run.

Type-stability can give orders of magnitude improvements in performance.

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### Methods and objects for use in applyrule and/or modifyrule

Base.getFunction
Base.get(data::AbstractSimData, key::Union{Symbol,Aux,Grid}, I...)

Allows parameters to be taken from a single value, another grid or an aux array.

If aux arrays are a DimArray time sequence (with a Ti dim) the currect date will be calculated automatically.

Currently this is cycled by default, but will use Cyclic mode in DiensionalData.jl in future.

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DynamicGrids.inboundsFunction
inbounds(data::AbstractSimData, I::Tuple) -> Tuple{NTuple{2,Int}, Bool}
inbounds(data::AbstractSimData, I...) -> Tuple{NTuple{2,Int}, Bool}

Check grid boundaries for a coordinate before writing in SetCellRule.

Returns a Tuple containing a coordinates Tuple and a Bool - true if the cell is inside the grid bounds, false if not.

BoundaryCondition of type Remove returns the coordinate and false to skip coordinates that boundary outside of the grid.

Wrap returns a tuple with the current position or it's wrapped equivalent, and true as it is allways in-bounds.

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DynamicGrids.ismaskedFunction
ismasked(data, I...)

Check if a cell is masked, using the mask array.

Used used internally during simulations to skip masked cells.

If mask was not passed to the Output constructor or sim! it defaults to nothing and false is always returned.

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DynamicGrids.currenttimestepFunction
currenttimestep(simdata::AbstractSimData)

Retrieve the current timestep from a AbstractSimData object.

This may be different from the timestep. If the timestep is Month, currenttimestep will return Seconds for the length of the specific month.

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DynamicGrids.AbstractSimDataType
AbstractSimData

Supertype for simulation data objects. Thes hold grids, settings other objects required to run the simulation and potentially requireing access from rules.

An AbstractSimData object is accessable in applyrule as the first parameter.

Multiple grids can be indexed into using their key if you need to read from arbitrary locations:

funciton applyrule(data::AbstractSimData, rule::SomeRule{Tuple{A,B}},W}, (a, b), I) where {A,B,W}
grid_a = data[A]
grid_b = data[B]
...

In single-grid simulations AbstractSimData objects can be indexed directly as if they are a Matrix.

Methods

• currentframe(data): get the current frame number, an Int
• currenttime(data): the current frame time, which isa eltype(tspan)
• aux(data, args...): get the aux data NamedTuple, or Nothing. adding a Symbol or Val{:symbol} argument will get a field of aux.
• tspan(data): get the simulation time span, an AbstractRange.
• timestep(data): get the simulaiton time step.
• boundary(data) : returns the BoundaryCondition - Remove or Wrap.
• padval(data) : returns the value to use as grid border padding.

These are available, but you probably shouldn't use them and their behaviour is not guaranteed in furture versions. They will mean rule is useful only in specific contexts.

• settings(data): get the simulaitons SimSettings object.
• extent(data) : get the simulation AbstractExtent object.
• init(data) : get the simulation init AbstractArray/NamedTuple
• mask(data) : get the simulation mask AbstractArray
• source(data) : get the source grid that is being read from.
• dest(data) : get the dest grid that is being written to.
• radius(data) : returns the Int radius used on the grid, which is also the amount of border padding.
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DynamicGrids.SimDataType
SimData <: AbstractSimData

SimData(extent::AbstractExtent, ruleset::AbstractRuleset)

Simulation dataset to hold all intermediate arrays, timesteps and frame numbers for the current frame of the simulation.

Additional methods not found in AbstractSimData:

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DynamicGrids.ReadableGridDataType
ReadableGridData <: GridData

ReadableGridData{S,R}(init::AbstractArray, mask, opt, boundary, padval)

Simulation data and storage passed to rules for each timestep.

Type parameters

• Y: number of rows
• X: number of columns
• R: grid padding radius
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DynamicGrids.WritableGridDataType
WritableGridData <: GridData

WritableGridData(grid::GridData)

Passed to rules as write grids, and can be written to directly as an array, or preferably using add! etc. All writes handle updates to SparseOpt() and writing to the correct source/dest array.

Reads are always from the source array, as rules must not be sequential between cells. This means using e.g. += is not supported, instead use add!.

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## Neighborhoods

DynamicGrids.NeighborhoodType
Neighborhood

Neighborhoods define the pattern of surrounding cells in the "neighborhood" of the current cell. The neighbors function returns the surrounding cells as an iterable.

The main kinds of neighborhood are demonstrated below:

Neighborhoods can be used in NeighborhoodRule and SetNeighborhoodRule - the same shapes with different purposes. In a NeighborhoodRule the neighborhood specifies which cells around the current cell are returned as an iterable from the neighbors function. These can be counted, summed, compared, or multiplied with a kernel in an AbstractKernelNeighborhood, using kernelproduct.

In SetNeighborhoodRule neighborhoods give the locations of cells around the central cell, as [offsets] and absolute positions around the index of each neighbor. These can then be written to manually.

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DynamicGrids.MooreType
Moore <: RadialNeighborhood

Moore(radius::Int=1)

Moore neighborhoods define the neighborhood as all cells within a horizontal or vertical distance of the central cell. The central cell is omitted.

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DynamicGrids.WindowType
Window <: RadialNeighborhood

Window{R}()

A neighboorhood of radius R that includes the central cell. R = 1 gives a 3x3 matrix.

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DynamicGrids.AbstractPositionalNeighborhoodType
AbstractPositionalNeighborhood <: Neighborhood

Neighborhoods are tuples or vectors of custom coordinates tuples that are specified in relation to the central point of the current cell. They can be any arbitrary shape or size, but should be listed in column-major order for performance.

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DynamicGrids.PositionalType
Positional <: AbstractPositionalNeighborhood

Positional(coord::Tuple{Vararg{Int}}...)
Positional(offsets::Tuple{Tuple{Vararg{Int}}})

Neighborhoods that can take arbitrary shapes by specifying each coordinate, as Tuple{Int,Int} of the row/column distance (positive and negative) from the central point.

The neighborhood radius is calculated from the most distance coordinate. For simplicity the buffer read from the main grid is a square with sides 2r + 1 around the central point.

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DynamicGrids.LayeredPositionalType
LayeredPositional <: AbstractPositional

LayeredPositional(layers::Positional...)

Sets of Positional neighborhoods that can have separate rules for each set.

neighbors for LayeredPositional returns a tuple of iterators for each neighborhood layer.

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### Methods for use with neighborhood rules and neighborhoods

Useful with NeighborhoodRule:

DynamicGrids.neighborsFunction
neighbors(x::Union{Neighborhood,NeighborhoodRule}}) -> iterable

Returns an iteraterable generator over all cells in the neighborhood.

Custom Neighborhoods must define this method.

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Useful with SetNeighborhoodRule:

DynamicGrids.offsetsFunction
offsets(x::Union{Neighborhood,NeighborhoodRule}}) -> iterable

Returns an iteraterable over all cells as a Tuple of the index offset from the central cell.

Custom Neighborhoods must define this method.

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### Convolution kernel neighborhoods

DynamicGrids.AbstractKernelNeighborhoodType
AbstractKernelNeighborhood <: Neighborhood

Abstract supertype for kernel neighborhoods.

These can wrap any other neighborhood object, and include a kernel of the same length and positions as the neighborhood.

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DynamicGrids.KernelType
Kernel <: AbstractKernelNeighborhood

Kernel(neighborhood, kernel)

Wrap any other neighborhood object, and includes a kernel of the same length and positions as the neighborhood.

R = 1 gives 3x3 matrices.

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DynamicGrids.kernelFunction
kernel(hood::AbstractKernelNeighborhood) => iterable

Returns the kernel object, an array or iterable matching the length of the neighborhood.

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DynamicGrids.kernelproductFunction
kernelproduct(rule::NeighborhoodRule})
kernelproduct(hood::AbstractKernelNeighborhood)
kernelproduct(hood::Neighborhood, kernel)

Returns the vector dot product of the neighborhood and the kernel, although differing from dot in that the dot product is not take for vector members of the neighborhood - they are treated as scalars.

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### Atomic methods for SetCellRule and SetNeighborhoodRule

Using these methods to modify grid values ensures cell independence, and also prevent race conditions with ThreadedCPU or [CuGPU].

DynamicGrids.add!Function
add!(data::WritableGridData, x, I...)

Add the value x to a grid cell.

Example useage

function applyrule!(data::AbstractSimData, rule::My{A,B}, state, cellindex) where {A,B}

dest, is_inbounds = inbounds(data, (jump .+ cellindex)...)

# Update spotted cell if it's on the grid
end
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DynamicGrids.sub!Function
sub!(data::WritableGridData, x, I...)

Subtract the value x from a grid cell. See add! for example usage.

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DynamicGrids.min!Function
min!(data::WritableGridData, x, I...)

Set a gride cell to the minimum of x and the current value. See add! for example usage.

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DynamicGrids.max!Function
max!(data::WritableGridData, x, I...)

Set a gride cell to the maximum of x and the current value. See add! for example usage.

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DynamicGrids.and!Function
and!(data::WritableGridData, x, I...)
and!(A::AbstractArray, x, I...)

Set the grid cell c to c & x. See add! for example usage.

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DynamicGrids.or!Function
or!(data::WritableGridData, x, I...)
or!(A::AbstractArray, x, I...)

Set the grid cell c to c | x. See add! for example usage.

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DynamicGrids.xor!Function
xor!(data::WritableGridData, x, I...)
xor!(A::AbstractArray, x, I...)

Set the grid cell c to xor(c, x). See add! for example usage.

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## Output

### Output Types and Constructors

DynamicGrids.OutputType
Output

Abstract supertype for simulation outputs.

Outputs are store or display simulation results, usually as a vector of grids, one for each timestep - but they may also sum, combine or otherwise manipulate the simulation grids to improve performance, reduce memory overheads or similar.

Simulation outputs are decoupled from simulation behaviour, and in many cases can be used interchangeably.

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DynamicGrids.ArrayOutputType
ArrayOutput <: Output

ArrayOutput(init; tspan::AbstractRange, [aux, mask, padval])

A simple output that stores each step of the simulation in a vector of arrays.

Arguments

• init: initialisation Array or NamedTuple of Array

Keywords

• tspan: AbstractRange timespan for the simulation
• aux: NamedTuple of arbitrary input data. Use get(data, Aux(:key), I...) to access from a Rule in a type-stable way.
• mask: BitArray for defining cells that will/will not be run.
• padval: padding value for grids with neighborhood rules. The default is zero(eltype(init)).
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DynamicGrids.ResultOutputType
ResultOutput <: Output

ResultOutput(init; tspan::AbstractRange, kw...)

A simple output that only stores the final result, not intermediate frames.

Arguments

• init: initialisation Array or NamedTuple of Array

Keywords

• tspan: AbstractRange timespan for the simulation
• aux: NamedTuple of arbitrary input data. Use get(data, Aux(:key), I...) to access from a Rule in a type-stable way.
• mask: BitArray for defining cells that will/will not be run.
• padval: padding value for grids with neighborhood rules. The default is zero(eltype(init)).
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DynamicGrids.TransformedOutputType
TransformedOutput(f, init; tspan::AbstractRange, kw...)

An output that stores the result of some function f of the grid/s

Arguments

• f: a function or functor that accepts an AbstractArray or NamedTuple of AbstractArray with names matchin init. The AbstractArray will be a view into the grid the same size as the init grids, removing any padding that has been added.
• init: initialisation Array or NamedTuple of Array

Keywords

• tspan: AbstractRange timespan for the simulation
• aux: NamedTuple of arbitrary input data. Use get(data, Aux(:key), I...) to access from a Rule in a type-stable way.
• mask: BitArray for defining cells that will/will not be run.
• padval: padding value for grids with neighborhood rules. The default is zero(eltype(init)).
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DynamicGrids.GraphicOutputType
GraphicOutput <: Output

Abstract supertype for Outputs that display the simulation frames.

All GraphicOutputs must have a GraphicConfig object and define a showframe method.

See REPLOutput for an example.

Keywords:

The default constructor will generate these objects from other keyword arguments and pass them to the object constructor, which must accept the following:

• frames: a Vector of simulation frames (NamedTuple or Array).
• running: A Bool.
• extent an Extent object.
• graphicconfig a GraphicConfigobject.
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DynamicGrids.REPLOutputType
REPLOutput <: GraphicOutput

REPLOutput(init; tspan, kw...)

An output that is displayed directly in the REPL. It can either store or discard simulation frames.

Arguments:

• init: initialisation Array or NamedTuple of Arrays.

Keywords

• tspan: AbstractRange timespan for the simulation
• mask: BitArray for defining cells that will/will not be run.
• aux: NamedTuple of arbitrary input data. Use get(data, Aux(:key), I...) to access from a Rule in a type-stable way.
• padval: padding value for grids with neighborhood rules. The default is zero(eltype(init)).
• fps: Real frames per second to display the simulation
• store: Bool whether ot store the simulation frames for later use
• color: a color from Crayons.jl
• cutoff: Real cutoff point to display a full or empty cell. Default is 0.5
• style: CharStyle Block() or Braile() printing. Braile uses 1/4 the screen space of Block.
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DynamicGrids.ImageOutputType
ImageOutput <: GraphicOutput

Abstract supertype for Graphic outputs that display the simulation frames as RGB images.

ImageOutputs must have Extent, GraphicConfig and ImageConfig components, and define a showimage method.

See GifOutput for an example.

Although the majority of the code is maintained here to enable sharing and reuse, most ImageOutputs are not provided in DynamicGrids.jl to avoid heavy dependencies on graphics libraries. See DynamicGridsGtk.jl and DynamicGridsInteract.jl for implementations.

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DynamicGrids.GifOutputType
GifOutput <: ImageOutput

GifOutput(init; filename, tspan, kw...)

Output that stores the simulation as images and saves a Gif file on completion.

Arguments:

• init: initialisation Array or NamedTuple of Array

Keywords

• filename: File path to save the gif file to.
• tspan: AbstractRange timespan for the simulation
• aux: NamedTuple of arbitrary input data. Use get(data, Aux(:key), I...) to access from a Rule in a type-stable way.
• mask: BitArray for defining cells that will/will not be run.
• padval: padding value for grids with neighborhood rules. The default is zero(eltype(init)).
• font: String font name, used in default TextConfig. A default will be guessed.
• text: TextConfig object or nothing for no text.
• scheme: ColorSchemes.jl scheme, or Greyscale()
• renderer: Renderer
• minval: minimum value(s) to set colour maximum
• maxval: maximum values(s) to set colour minimum
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### Renderers

DynamicGrids.RendererType
Renderer

Abstract supertype for objects that convert a frame of the simulation into an ARGB32 image for display. Frames may be a single grid or a NamedTuple of multiple grids.

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DynamicGrids.ImageType
Image <: SingleGridRenderer

Image(f=identity; scheme=ObjectScheme(), zerocolor=nothing, maskcolor=nothing)

Converts output grids to a colorsheme.

Arguments

• f: a function to convert value from the grid to Real oran RGB. Real will be scaled by minval/maxval and be colored by the scheme. RGB is used directly in the output. This is useful for grids of complex objects, but not necessary for numbers. The default is identity.

Keywords

• scheme: a ColorSchemes.jl colorscheme, ObjectScheme or object that defines Base.get(obj, val) and returns a Color or a value that can be converted to Color using ARGB32(val).
• zerocolor: a Col to use when values are zero, or nothing to ignore.
• maskcolor: a Color to use when cells are masked, or nothing to ignore.
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DynamicGrids.LayoutType
Layout <: MultiGridRenderer

Layout(layout::Array, renderer::Matrix)

Layout allows displaying multiple grids in a block layout, by specifying a layout matrix and a list of Images to be run for each.

Arguments

• layout: A Vector or Matrix containing the keys or numbers of grids in the locations to display them. nothing, missing or 0 values will be skipped.
• renderers: Vector/Matrix of Image, matching the layout. Can be nothing or any other value for grids not in layout.
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### Color schemes

Schemes from Colorschemes.jl can be used for the scheme argument to ImageOutput, Renderers. Greyscale control over the band of grey used, and is very fast. ObjectScheme is the default.

DynamicGrids.ObjectSchemeType
ObjectScheme

ObjectScheme()

Default colorscheme. Similar to GreyScale for Number.

Other grid objects can define a custom method to return colors from composite objects:

DynamicGrids.to_rgb(::ObjectScheme, obj::MyObjectType) = ...

Which must return an ARGB32 value.

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DynamicGrids.GreyscaleType
Greyscale

Greyscale(min=nothing, max=nothing)

A greeyscale scheme ith better performance than using a Colorschemes.jl scheme as there is not array access or interpolation.

min and max are values between 0.0 and 1.0 that define the range of greys used.

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### Text labels

DynamicGrids.TextConfigType
TextConfig

TextConfig(; kw...)
TextConfig(face, namepixels, namepos, timepixels, timepos, fcolor, bcolor)

Text configuration for printing timestep and grid name on the image.

Arguments / Keywords

• font: String font name.
• namepixels and timepixels: the pixel size of the font.
• timepos and namepos: tuples that set the label positions, in Int pixels.
• fcolor and bcolor: the foreground and background colors, as ARGB32.
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### Saving gifs

DynamicGrids.savegifFunction
savegif(filename::String, o::Output; kw...)

Write the output array to a gif.

Keywords

• fps: Real frames persecond. Defaults to the fps of the output, or 25.
• minval: Minimum value in the grid(s) to normalise for conversion to an RGB pixel. Number or Tuple for multiple grids.
• maxval: Maximum value in the grid(s) to normalise for conversion to an RGB pixel. Number or Tuple for multiple grids.
• font: String name of font to search for. A default will be guessed.
• text: TextConfig or nothing for no text. Default is TextConfig(; font=font).
• scheme: ColorSchemes.jl scheme, ObjectScheme or Greyscale
• renderer: Renderer such as Image or Layout. Will be detected automatically
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### Output interface

These are used for defining your own outputs and GridProcessors, not for general scripting.

DynamicGrids.AbstractExtentType
AbstractExtent

Abstract supertype for Extent objects, that hold all variables related to space and time in a simulation. Usually the field of an output.

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DynamicGrids.ExtentType
Extent <: AbstractExtent

Extent(; init, tspan, mask=nothing, aux=nothing, padval=zero(eltype(init)), kw...)

Container for extensive variables: spatial and timeseries data. These are kept separate from rules to allow application of rules to alternate spatial and temporal contexts.

Extent is not usually constructed directly by users, but it can be passed to Output constructors instead of init, mask, aux and tspan.

Arguments/Keywords

• init: initialisation Array/NamedTuple for grid/s.
• mask: BitArray for defining cells that will/will not be run.
• aux: NamedTuple of arbitrary input data. Use aux(data, Aux(:key)) to access from a Rule in a type-stable way.
• padval: padding value for grids with neighborhood rules. The default is zero(eltype(init)).
• tspan: Time span range. Never type-stable, only access this in modifyrule methods
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### GraphicOutput interface

Also includes Output interface.

DynamicGrids.showframeFunction
showframe(o::Output, data::AbstractSimData)
showframe(frame::NamedTuple, o::Output, data::AbstractSimData)
showframe(frame::AbstractArray, o::Output, data::AbstractSimData)

GraphicOutput interface method.

Display the grid/s somehow in the output, if it can do that.

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### ImageOutput components and interface

Also uses Output and GraphicOutput interfaces.

DynamicGrids.ImageConfigType
ImageConfig

ImageConfig(init; kw...)

Common configuration component for all ImageOutput.

Keywords

• init output init object, used to generate other arguments automatically.
• minval: Minimum value in the grid(s) to normalise for conversion to an RGB pixel. A Vector/Matrix for multiple grids, matching the layout array.
• maxval: Maximum value in the grid(s) to normalise for conversion to an RGB pixel. A Vector/Matrix for multiple grids, matching the layout array.
• font: String name of font to search for. A default will be guessed.
• text: TextConfig() or nothing for no text. Default is TextConfig(; font=font).
• scheme: ColorSchemes.jl scheme(s), or Greyscale(). ObjectScheme() by default. A Vector/Matrix for multiple grids, matching the layout array.
• renderer: Renderer like Image or Layout Will be detected automatically. A Vector/Matrix for multiple grids, matching the layout array.
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DynamicGrids.showimageFunction
showimage(image::AbstractArray, o::ImageOutput)
showimage(image::AbstractArray, o::ImageOutput, data::AbstractSimData)

ImageOutput interface method.

Display an image generated from the grid, a required method for all ImageOutput.

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DynamicGrids.render!Function
render!(o::ImageOutput, data::AbstractSimData)
render!(imbuf, renderer::Renderer, o::ImageOutput, data::AbstractSimData, grids)

Convert a grid or NamedRuple of grids to an ARGB32 image, using an Renderer.

Rendered pixels are written to the image buffer matrix.

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DynamicGrids.to_rgbFunction
to_rgb(val) => ARGB32
to_rgb(scheme, val) => ARGB32

ImageOutput interface method.

Display an image generated from the grid, a required method for all ImageOutput.

Custom grid object will need to add methods for converting the object to a color,

to_rgb(::ObjectScheme, obj::CustomObj) = ...

For use with other colorschemes, a method that calls get with a Real value obtained from the object will be required:

to_rgb(scheme, obj::CustomObj) = ARGB32(get(scheme, real_from_obj(obj)))
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## Custom grid element types

It is common to use Bool, Int or Float64 as the contents of a grid. But a range of object types can be used if they meet the interface criteria.

Immutable, isbits objects are usually better and the only type officially to work - as they are loaded directly in the simulation. Mutable objects, especially containing pointers, may lead to incorrect stored results, and wont work at all on GPUs.

Methods to define are:

• zero: define zero of the object type
• oneunit: define one of the object type
• isless: define comparison between two of the objects
• *: multiplication by a Real scalar.
• /: division by a Real scalar.
• +: addition to another object of the same type
• -: subtraction from another object of the same type
• to_rgb: return and ARGB32 to visualise the object as a pixel

In this example we define a struct with two fields. You will need to determine the correct behaviours for your own types, but hopefully this will get you started.

struct MYStruct{A,B}
a::A
b::B
end

Base.isless(a::MyStruct, b::MyStruct) = isless(a.a, b.a)
Base.zero(::Type{<:MyStruct{T1,T2}}) where {T1,T2} = MyStruct(zero(T1), zero(T2))
Base.oneunit(::Type{<:MyStruct{T1,T2}}) where {T1,T2} = MyStruct(one(T1), one(T2))

Base.:*(x::MyStruct, x::Number) = MyStruct(x.a * x, x.b * x)
Base.:*(x::Number, x::MyStruct) = MyStruct(x * x.a, x * x.b)
Base.:/(x::MyStruct, x::Number) = MyStruct(x.a / x, x.b / x)
Base.:+(x1::MyStruct, x2::MyStruct) = MyStruct(x1.a + x2.a, x1.b + x2.b)
Base.:-(x1::MyStruct, x2::MyStruct) = MyStruct(x1.a - x2.a, x1.b - x2.b)

To generate rgb colors for an ImageOuput, you must define to_rgb, at least for the default ObjectScheme, but this can also be done for other schemes such as ColorSchemes.jl, or GreyScale, by calling get on the scheme and a Real value. Note that the objects will be normalised to values between zero and one by minval and maxval scalars prior to this, using the division operators defined above. It is preferable to use minval and maxval over normalising in to_rgb - as this will not be as flexible for scripting.

DynamicGrids.to_rgb(::ObjectScheme, obj::MyStruct) = ARGB32(obj.a, obj.b, 0)
DynamicGrids.to_rgb(scheme, obj::MyStruct) = get(scheme, obj.a)

See the test/objectgrids.jl` tests for more details on using complex objects in grids.