Botany with Bytes
summary
Ruby code uses the graphics gem (Ryan Davis) and short L‑system engines to build plant models that actually render: algae colonies, juniper branches, artichoke spirals and euphorbia ruffles. Turtle graphics map symbols to moves, about 20 lines of core logic produce 2D/3D visualizations. A charged‑particle repulsion simulates phyllotaxis with time complexity roughly O(n²). Alan Turing’s measured divergence angle shows up as 137.5 degrees and plugging that into an L‑system reproduces realistic leaf arrangements.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (15)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:10Algae growth and L-systems
- 2:33L-systems as rewriting systems
- 5:25L-systems in formal grammars
- 6:46Implementing L-system in code
- 7:29Turtle graphics for 2D
- 9:39Drawing a sprout
- 10:41Real-world plant structures
- 11:47Non-plant L-system uses
- 12:52Charged particle leaf growth
- 14:15Turing's phyllotaxis
- 15:423D plant growth simulation
- 16:44Cell division and crystalline patterns
- 18:12Hyperbolic geometry in leaves
- 19:58Q&A
