Binary Coded Layered Automata - Rust Implementation

Technical Specification Document

1. Project Overview

Project Name: Binary Coded Layered Automata Engine (BCLAE) Language: Rust Target: High-performance, scalable cellular automata simulation License: MIT/Apache 2.0 dual license

2. Performance Requirements

2.1 Scale Targets

2.2 Performance Benchmarks

3. Architecture Design

3.1 Core Components

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┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Application Layer                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  CLI Interface  │  Web Interface  │  Native GUI  │  API     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                    Simulation Engine                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Ant System  │  Life System  │  Substrate  │  Renderer     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│              Compute Backend (CPU/GPU)                      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                    Memory Manager                           │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

3.2 Module Structure

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bclae/
├── src/
   ├── lib.rs                 // Public API
   ├── engine/
      ├── mod.rs
      ├── simulation.rs      // Main simulation loop
      ├── config.rs          // Configuration management
      └── stats.rs           // Performance metrics
   ├── grid/
      ├── mod.rs
      ├── substrate.rs       // Substrate grid management
      ├── life.rs           // Life grid management
      ├── marked.rs         // Marked cells tracking
      └── inhibition.rs     // Inhibition system
   ├── ant/
      ├── mod.rs
      ├── ant.rs            // Individual ant logic
      ├── swarm.rs          // Multi-ant coordination
      └── rules.rs          // Rule management
   ├── compute/
      ├── mod.rs
      ├── cpu.rs            // CPU-based computation
      ├── gpu.rs            // GPU acceleration (WGPU)
      └── parallel.rs       // Parallel processing
   ├── render/
      ├── mod.rs
      ├── canvas.rs         // 2D rendering
      ├── colors.rs         // Color management
      └── export.rs         // Image/video export
   ├── io/
      ├── mod.rs
      ├── save_load.rs      // State serialization
      └── formats.rs        // File format support
   └── utils/
       ├── mod.rs
       ├── math.rs           // Mathematical utilities
       └── memory.rs         // Memory optimization
├── benches/                  // Performance benchmarks
├── examples/                 // Usage examples
└── tests/                    // Integration tests

4. Data Structures

4.1 Core Grid Types

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// Optimized for cache efficiency and SIMD operations
pub struct SubstrateGrid {
    data: Vec<u8>,           // Packed color values (0-7)
    width: usize,
    height: usize,
    stride: usize,           // Aligned for SIMD
}

pub struct LifeGrid {
    data: BitVec,            // Bit-packed for memory efficiency
    width: usize,
    height: usize,
}

pub struct MarkedGrid {
    data: BitVec,            // Bit-packed boolean grid
    width: usize,
    height: usize,
}

pub struct InhibitionGrid {
    data: Vec<u8>,           // 0-255 inhibition strength
    width: usize,
    height: usize,
}

4.2 Ant Representation

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#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
pub struct Ant {
    pub id: u32,
    pub position: Point2D<u32>,
    pub direction: Direction,
    pub steps: u64,
    pub color: Color,
    pub rule: BinaryRule,
    pub activation_mask: BinaryMask,
    pub activation_mode: BinaryMode,
}

#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
pub struct AntSwarm {
    ants: Vec<Ant>,
    spawn_mode: SpawnMode,
    sync_mode: SyncMode,
    spatial_index: SpatialHash,  // For efficient collision detection
}

4.3 Configuration System

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#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone, Debug)]
pub struct SimulationConfig {
    // Grid parameters
    pub grid_size: (usize, usize),
    pub num_colors: u8,
    pub color_palette: Vec<Color>,

    // Ant parameters
    pub num_ants: u32,
    pub ant_spawn_mode: SpawnMode,
    pub ant_sync: SyncMode,
    pub ant_rule: Vec<bool>,

    // Life parameters
    pub life_radius: u8,
    pub birth_rule: u8,
    pub survival_min: u8,
    pub survival_max: u8,

    // Activation parameters
    pub activation_mask: Vec<bool>,
    pub activation_mode: Vec<bool>,
    pub ant_activation_radius: u8,
    pub activation_probability: f32,

    // Performance parameters
    pub use_gpu: bool,
    pub num_threads: Option<usize>,
    pub chunk_size: usize,
}

5. Performance Optimizations

5.1 Memory Layout Optimizations

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// Structure of Arrays (SoA) for better cache performance
pub struct AntComponents {
    positions: Vec<Point2D<u32>>,
    directions: Vec<Direction>,
    steps: Vec<u64>,
    rules: Vec<BinaryRule>,
    // ... other components
}

// Memory-aligned grid data
#[repr(align(64))]  // Cache line alignment
pub struct AlignedGrid<T> {
    data: Vec<T>,
    width: usize,
    height: usize,
}

5.2 SIMD Optimizations

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use std::simd::*;

impl SubstrateGrid {
    // Process 32 cells at once using AVX2
    pub fn update_colors_simd(&mut self, positions: &[Point2D<u32>]) {
        // SIMD implementation for bulk color updates
    }
}

impl LifeGrid {
    // Vectorized neighbor counting
    pub fn count_neighbors_simd(&self, chunk: &GridChunk) -> Vec<u8> {
        // SIMD implementation for neighbor counting
    }
}

5.3 Parallel Processing Strategy

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use rayon::prelude::*;

impl Simulation {
    pub fn step_parallel(&mut self) {
        // Phase 1: Move ants (can be parallelized by ant)
        self.ants.par_iter_mut().for_each(|ant| {
            self.move_ant(ant);
        });

        // Phase 2: Update life (divide grid into chunks)
        let chunks: Vec<_> = self.create_grid_chunks();
        chunks.par_iter().for_each(|chunk| {
            self.update_life_chunk(chunk);
        });

        // Phase 3: Merge results
        self.merge_chunk_results();
    }
}

5.4 GPU Acceleration

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// WGPU compute shaders for life simulation
pub struct GpuLifeCompute {
    device: wgpu::Device,
    queue: wgpu::Queue,
    life_pipeline: wgpu::ComputePipeline,
    substrate_buffer: wgpu::Buffer,
    life_buffer: wgpu::Buffer,
    result_buffer: wgpu::Buffer,
}

impl GpuLifeCompute {
    pub async fn compute_life_step(&self, grid_size: (u32, u32)) {
        // Dispatch compute shader for life simulation
        let mut encoder = self.device.create_command_encoder(&Default::default());
        {
            let mut compute_pass = encoder.begin_compute_pass(&Default::default());
            compute_pass.set_pipeline(&self.life_pipeline);
            compute_pass.set_bind_group(0, &self.bind_group, &[]);
            compute_pass.dispatch_workgroups(
                (grid_size.0 + 15) / 16,
                (grid_size.1 + 15) / 16,
                1,
            );
        }
        self.queue.submit(std::iter::once(encoder.finish()));
    }
}

6. API Design

6.1 Core Simulation API

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pub struct Simulation {
    config: SimulationConfig,
    grids: GridSystem,
    ants: AntSwarm,
    stats: SimulationStats,
    compute_backend: Box<dyn ComputeBackend>,
}

impl Simulation {
    pub fn new(config: SimulationConfig) -> Result<Self, SimulationError>;
    pub fn step(&mut self) -> Result<(), SimulationError>;
    pub fn run_for(&mut self, steps: u64) -> Result<(), SimulationError>;
    pub fn reset(&mut self) -> Result<(), SimulationError>;

    // State access
    pub fn get_substrate_grid(&self) -> &SubstrateGrid;
    pub fn get_life_grid(&self) -> &LifeGrid;
    pub fn get_ants(&self) -> &[Ant];
    pub fn get_stats(&self) -> &SimulationStats;

    // Configuration
    pub fn update_config(&mut self, config: SimulationConfig) -> Result<(), SimulationError>;
    pub fn randomize_rules(&mut self);

    // Serialization
    pub fn save_state(&self, path: &Path) -> Result<(), IoError>;
    pub fn load_state(&mut self, path: &Path) -> Result<(), IoError>;
}

6.2 Rendering API

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pub trait Renderer {
    fn render(&mut self, simulation: &Simulation, target: &mut RenderTarget) -> Result<(), RenderError>;
    fn set_viewport(&mut self, viewport: Viewport);
    fn set_zoom(&mut self, zoom: f32);
}

pub struct CanvasRenderer {
    canvas: Canvas,
    color_cache: HashMap<u8, Color>,
    cell_size: f32,
    viewport: Viewport,
}

impl Renderer for CanvasRenderer {
    fn render(&mut self, simulation: &Simulation, target: &mut RenderTarget) -> Result<(), RenderError> {
        // Optimized rendering implementation
    }
}

7. Build System and Dependencies

7.1 Cargo.toml

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[package]
name = "bclae"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"
authors = ["Your Name <email@example.com>"]
license = "MIT OR Apache-2.0"
description = "High-performance Binary Coded Layered Automata Engine"
repository = "https://github.com/username/bclae"

[dependencies]
# Core dependencies
serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
serde_json = "1.0"
rayon = "1.7"
bitvec = "1.0"
nalgebra = "0.32"

# GPU acceleration
wgpu = { version = "0.18", optional = true }
bytemuck = { version = "1.14", optional = true }

# Rendering
image = "0.24"
palette = "0.7"

# CLI
clap = { version = "4.0", features = ["derive"], optional = true }

# Web interface
wasm-bindgen = { version = "0.2", optional = true }
web-sys = { version = "0.3", optional = true }

[dev-dependencies]
criterion = { version = "0.5", features = ["html_reports"] }
proptest = "1.0"

[features]
default = ["gpu", "cli"]
gpu = ["wgpu", "bytemuck"]
cli = ["clap"]
web = ["wasm-bindgen", "web-sys"]

[[bench]]
name = "simulation_bench"
harness = false

[[bin]]
name = "bclae-cli"
required-features = ["cli"]

8. Testing Strategy

8.1 Unit Tests

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#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::*;

    #[test]
    fn test_ant_movement() {
        let mut simulation = Simulation::new(default_config()).unwrap();
        let initial_pos = simulation.get_ants()[0].position;
        simulation.step().unwrap();
        let new_pos = simulation.get_ants()[0].position;
        assert_ne!(initial_pos, new_pos);
    }

    #[test]
    fn test_life_evolution() {
        // Test Conway's life rules
    }

    #[test]
    fn test_serialization() {
        // Test save/load functionality
    }
}

8.2 Property-Based Tests

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use proptest::prelude::*;

proptest! {
    #[test]
    fn test_grid_bounds(
        x in 0u32..1000,
        y in 0u32..1000,
        grid_size in 10usize..1000
    ) {
        let grid = SubstrateGrid::new(grid_size, grid_size);
        // Test that all operations respect bounds
    }
}

8.3 Performance Benchmarks

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use criterion::{black_box, criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion};

fn bench_simulation_step(c: &mut Criterion) {
    let mut simulation = Simulation::new(benchmark_config()).unwrap();

    c.bench_function("simulation_step_1000x1000", |b| {
        b.iter(|| {
            simulation.step().unwrap();
        })
    });
}

criterion_group!(benches, bench_simulation_step);
criterion_main!(benches);

9. Deployment and Distribution

9.1 Build Targets

9.2 Performance Profiling

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// Built-in profiling support
pub struct ProfilerConfig {
    pub enable_cpu_profiling: bool,
    pub enable_memory_profiling: bool,
    pub sample_rate: u64,
}

impl Simulation {
    pub fn enable_profiling(&mut self, config: ProfilerConfig) {
        // Integration with perf, valgrind, etc.
    }
}

10. Future Enhancements

10.1 Planned Features

  1. Distributed Computing: Multi-machine simulation support
  2. Real-time Visualization: 3D rendering with depth layers
  3. Machine Learning Integration: Pattern recognition and rule optimization
  4. Interactive Editing: Real-time parameter adjustment
  5. Export Formats: Video generation, scientific data formats

10.2 Performance Goals

11. Success Metrics