S. Bandini et al., Cellular automata: From a theoretical parallel computational model to its application to complex systems, PARALLEL C, 27(5), 2001, pp. 539-553
This introductory paper gives a short survey of cellular automata (CAs), fr
om different points of view. It starts with the main definitions and theore
tical results about CAs as an abstract model of computation or as discrete
dynamical systems. Then, the main applications of CAs in different fields (
biology, physics, etc.) as a model of complex systems are illustrated. Fina
lly, implementations of the CA model on parallel computing platforms are su
rveyed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.