{"id":8189,"date":"2026-07-30T17:51:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/?p=8189"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:51:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:51:48","slug":"ca-based-topology-mapper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/ca-based-topology-mapper\/","title":{"rendered":"CA-Based Topology Mapper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quick Start<\/h2>\n

Click here to play with the topology mapper:\u00a0 https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/apps\/jstopology\/JS-Topology.html<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Click the “Raindrops” button to generate some raindrops.<\/li>\n
  2. Click the “Play \/ Pause” button<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The three sliders at the top allow you to control the raindrops.\u00a0 Adjust them then click “Raindrops” for a new board.<\/p>\n

    Using Cellular Automation to Map Topology<\/h2>\n

    Let’s say that you have raindrops.\u00a0 Let’s say that the raindrops are actually paint drop.\u00a0 When each paint drop falls, it leaves a circle.\u00a0 Some of these circles overlap, while others don’t.\u00a0 What’s the easiest way to find out if the regions inside all of the raindrops are all connected?<\/p>\n

    This solver uses Cellular Automation:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • All “raindrop” cells are cataloged.<\/li>\n
    • We start with 5 “seeds” picked randomly from the list of raindrop cells.<\/li>\n
    • Now, we look at the neighbors of every cell:\n
        \n
      • If a “raindrop” cell borders a seed cell, it takes the state of that seed.<\/li>\n
      • If a seed cell borders a seed of higher rank, it switches to the state of the higher-ranked cell.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
      • If we reach a stable state (no cells switched states)\n
          \n
        • We look at the list of “raindrop” cells and select 5 more candidates.\n
            \n
          • If a candidate already has a seed state, that candidate is discarded.<\/li>\n
          • If we run out of candidates, then the topology is solved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
          • Once the topology is solved, any seed which retained it’s original state is a “surviving seed”.\n
              \n
            • We simply print a list of all surviving seeds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              \"\"<\/p>\n

              Above, we have some “paint” raindrops on a black background.\u00a0 Below, the topology of those raindrops is solved:<\/p>\n

              \"\"<\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Quick Start Click here to play with the topology mapper:\u00a0 https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/apps\/jstopology\/JS-Topology.html Click the “Raindrops” button to generate some raindrops. Click the “Play \/ Pause” button The three sliders at the top allow you to control the raindrops.\u00a0 Adjust them then click “Raindrops” for a new board. Using Cellular Automation to Map Topology Let’s say that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8192,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8189\/revisions\/8192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}