1. Use them in Golly:

The rule table format started with Golly's need to support different CA. Golly is distributed with many of these rule tables already included, so just explore the example patterns to see them in action.

Or, for new .table files:

1. Save the .table file into your rules folder (set in Preferences | Control).
2. Use Control | Set Rule... to change to the new rule.

Golly also accepts rule tree files, which are actually simpler for programs to utilise since they map directly onto a lookup function. More details here. Golly comes with a utility to convert a rule table into a rule tree. The only disadvantage of rule trees is that they are harder to author directly. At the moment they also only support the von Neumann and Moore neighborhoods.

2. Use them in your own programs:

Browse the source code here:

• read_ruletable.cpp shows how to use the ruletable class to read CA rule tables in your own project. It's only in C++ at the moment - contact us if you need help to use rule tables in your project.

3. Export them from other programs:

make-ruletable.cpp shows how to create rule table files if you have an existing CA implementation you want to convert. It's only in C++ at the moment but could be adapted for other languages.