After I saw Conway's game of life on Dara Ó Briain's maths club, I knew then and there that that would be good for my first solo program. After a bit of help with my malfunctioning code from some VERY kind people...
here:
http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/an-array-index-out-of-bounds-exception-i-know-what-that-means-but-why/30036/msg/278077/view.html#msg278077I made...

THE GAME OF LIFE:
Conway's game of life is a game that consists of an orthographic grid of cells that can be "alive" or "dead"; it is built on 4 simple rules:
/*
*Live cells with fewer than two live neighbours die.
*Live cells with two or three neighbours live on.
*Live cells with more than three neighbours die.
*Dead cells with two or three live neighbours become live.
*/
it can be quite fun to build contraptions (or societies if you like..) of your own, but one problem with this version is that the window is relatively tiny and there is no option to move the viewing pane. (I could change that but it would take a lot of effort on my part XD)
DOWNLOADS:
1.2 (i.e. adds optional game speeds and cell set up instead of initializing the cells from code)
here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/4ro1aja74tgkics/game_of_life_1_2.zipCONTROLS:
- use the mouse and left click to turn on/ turn off a cell.
- change the game speed (BEFORE activating) using shift/control
- use enter to activate and watch your simulation.
TESTING:
- if anyone can be bothered, test a glider
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/Game_of_life_animated_glider_2.gif&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/Game_of_Life_glider&h=336&w=336&sz=44&tbnid=0KHI2rB7-nhTeM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=91&zoom=1&usg=__znNp1_Tq1OWAyAAgC3Ba5vCYPQk=&docid=UttFrzpPxFTobM&sa=X&ei=DYtAUtzoIsG50QWhzYGYCA&ved=0CEsQ9QEwBA for long enough that it could have exited the map (around 229 cells away) I would be very greatful. If nothing breaks GREAT! if it does however, post up the error message (if there is one?).