Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderI've been obsessed with Langton's ant for a good solid decade now. My latest creation is a few years old now, but occasionally I go back and add new commands. It's inspired by Langton's ant, but it operates in 45 degree increments, has the ability to fork, conditionally execute instructions, has colors, and a bunch of other interesting things. You can see it in action at http://demoseen.com/langton/#.FP$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~ and there's a simple instruction listing at the bottom of the page. It's…
It's fascinating how after periods of stability and chaos, the ant eventually forms "highways" of regular behavior. Aside from fluid motion/sand in an hour glass, I can't think of many analogies in everyday life for this order > chaos > order pattern. Alongside being interesting mathematically, multi-colored Langton's Ant videos are hypnotic to watch. The patterns they make are beautiful, and I'm embarrassed by how much I find myself rooting for this "ant" to make it as far as it…
https://easylang.dev/ide/#run=len%20f%5B%5D%20100%20*%20100%...
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 3
- Total points
- 358
- Total comments
- 90
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-02-22 | Langton's ant | silentbicycle | 1 | 0 |
| 2014-09-03 | Langton's antFirst breakout · Best thread | _piyush | 118 | 42 |
| 2016-06-06 | Langton's Ant | sndean | 2 | 0 |
| 2019-06-07 | Langton's Ant | garycomtois | 115 | 25 |
| 2021-10-13 | Langton's Ant | pyinstallwoes | 6 | 0 |
| 2022-09-01 | Langton's Ant | graderjs | 14 | 0 |
| 2023-05-17 | Langton’s antLatest 20+ point return | scapecast | 102 | 23 |