Hashlife

Hashlife is a computer science algorithm used to quickly and efficiently simulate the life of cells on a virtual board, or grid. It works by splitting the board into four smaller boards, and then calculating what will happen to the cells on each of the four boards. These calculations are all stored in a "hash," or a big collection of data. If the same situation comes up again, the computer can reuse the information from the hash and don't have to calculate it all over again, which saves time. This whole process makes it very efficient at simulating life and allows it to be used for things like video games, computer animations, and more.