Exploring Discrete Dynamics Reviews

"Exploring Discrete Dynamics" by Andrew Wuensche was published in 2011 by Luniver Press (xxxvii + 498 pages, 290 figures, 31 tables, 8×10in paperback) -- listed on most book sites: Amazon, Book Depository etc., and also fully accessible on Google Books.

Exploring Discrete Dynamics supersedes previous versions of the DDLab manual. The hyperref-pdf (21 MB) with color figures, can be downloaded here. Further reviews and comments to andy AT ddlab DOT org.

Review in Kybernetes Vol. 41 Iss:3/4, pp.525 - 526, by Andrew Adamatzky, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
full PDF

(extract) In the last 20 years Andrew Wuensche was meticulously perfecting his approach to the analysis of cellular automata, and the more general random Boolean networks, and discrete dynamical networks, enhancing his DDLab software. The results of this work are now published in the book Exploring Discrete Dynamics. In over half-a-thousand pages of the book a reader will find unique and exciting ideas, tools, approaches and implementations towards studying complex systems in a cellular automaton framework.

Review in Artificial Life, MIT, 18(3), 325-328, 2012, by Genaro J. Martinez, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
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(extract) Wuensche's latest book, Exploring Discrete Dynamics, presents a very extensive description of the current features of DDLab. Successive chapters describe, in detail and depth, every function of this tool, illustrated with numerous examples of his research. Analyses concentrate mainly from four systems of increasing generality: cellular automata (CAs), random Boolean networks (RBNs), discrete dynamical networks (DDNs), and random maps. Consequently, in this book we have a ramifcation that connects and relates concepts naturally derived from these main subjects: reverse algorithms, rule-space, state-space, basins of attraction, stability, order, chaos, complexity, networks, emergent structures, classes, flters, self-reproduction, reaction-diffusion, cryptography, and beyond.

Review in the Journal of Cellular Automata:
Vol 7, Number 3 (2012) by Michael Verdicchio, The Military College of South Carolina

I have been using DDLab now for the past several years as a tool to assist in the analysis of Boolean network models of biological systems, including gene regulatory networks. In an arena full of toolboxes and small applications written haphazardly and often for single projects or applications, DDLab is a refreshing resource to turn to for several reasons:
1. DDLab's feature set is so comprehensive that even after years of use, there are many areas I've yet to explore.
2. Longevity: Due to years of refinement by Andy Wuensche, I know that DDLab has the most efficient representation of data and most efficient algorithmic execution possible.
3. Support: Andy has always given generous, prompt attention to emails regarding DDLab.
While I do write custom software for many of my projects, I find myself turning to DDLab time and time again not only to verify my results, but often to explore them even further. With the release of Exploring Discrete Dynamics, every user now has the ability to use DDLab to the fullest.

Review in the Journal of Cellular Automata 8(3-4): 311-315 (2013) by Dave Burraston..
PDF preprint

(extract) Discrete Dynamics Lab (DDLab) is a stunning piece of software for exploring cellular automata (CA) and other discrete dynamical networks, which are powerful tools in our quest to understand the complexities of life, nature and the many complex systems that intertwine our daily lives.
...
For those wishing to get involved in the fascinating world of CA and discrete dynamic networks, a copy of DDLab running on your computer and this book by your side will be an invaluable tool. If you have as much fun with DDLab and this book as I have, you will be in for truly rewarding experience.


from the back cover
EXPLORING DISCRETE DYNAMICS is a comprehensive guide to studying cellular automata and discrete dynamical networks with the classic software Discrete Dynamics Laboratory (DDLab), widely used in research and education. These collective networks are at the core of complexity and emergent self-organisation. With interactive graphics, DDLab is able to explore a huge diversity of behaviour, mostly terra incognita -- space-time patterns, and basins of attraction -- mathematical objects representing the convergent flow in state-space. Applications range within physics, mathematics, biology, cognition, society, economics and computation, and more specifically in neural and genetic networks, artificial life, and theories of memory.

Advance Praise for EXPORING DISCRETE DYNAMICS

"Andrew Wuensche has, in an important sense, done more than anyone to enable the study of discrete dynamical systems such as cellular automata and random Boolean nets. Wuensche derived the mathematical means to compute the "predecessor" states that flow to a successor state. Thereby he opened the door to study the entire state space flow of discrete dynamical systems. DDLab is a marvellous and useful tool for all of us fascinated by discrete dynamical systems and what they may tell us of mathematics and the world."
STUART KAUFFMAN, author of "The Origins of Order", MacArthur Fellow, FRSC, University of Vermont, USA. Tampere University of Technology, Finland.

"There is a whole universe of complexity that is captured by discrete dynamical systems, which have been widely used as a powerful framework to understand reality from different perspectives. Exploring Discrete Dynamics is a great example of how to dive in this neverending universe. A careful, compelling and detailed presentation of examples and methods will help both beginners and scholars to get into this fascinating field."
RICARD SOLE, Author of "Signs of Life", Complex Systems Lab, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.

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Last modified: June 2012