We’ve seen several implementations of Conway’s Game of Life that run in the browser — probably because Dr. Conway’s exercise in generative, automated systems is both simple enough for programmers to reproduce easily and pretty enough to watch that it quickly captures one’s imagination.

Here’s the latest: an HTML5 version of Life, as built by British programmer Joseph Mansfield. He says he tackled the “mini-project” to have fun with the HTML5 canvas element.

Here’s a primer on Life from Math.com. Visit Mansfield’s site and try out some different patterns and see what evolves. The screenshot above is about a dozen generations into a game that started with the word “Webmonkey” written on a 100×20 grid.

See Also:

• Conway’s Game of Life in JavaScript
• Smokescreen Project Promises ‘Flash Without the Plug-in’
• Handy Guide to Detecting Support for HTML5