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# Langton's Ant
Langton's ant (also *virtual ant* or *vant*) is a [simple](minimalism.md) [zero player](zero_player.md) [game](game.md) and [cellular automaton](cellular_automaton.md) simulating the behavior of an ant that behaves according to very simple rules but nonetheless builds an impressively complex structure. It may be roughly likened to [game of life](game_of_life.md). Langton's ant is **[Turing complete](turing_complete.md)** (it can be used to carry out any computation that any other computer can).
Langton's ant (also *virtual ant* or *vant*) is a [simple](minimalism.md) [zero player](zero_player.md) [game](game.md) and [cellular automaton](cellular_automaton.md) simulating an ant that behaves according to very simple rules but nonetheless builds an impressively complex structure. It may be roughly likened to [game of life](game_of_life.md). Langton's ant is **[Turing complete](turing_complete.md)** (it can be used to carry out any computation that any other computer can).
**Rules**: in the basic version the ant is placed in a square grid where each square can be either white or black. Initially all squares are white. The ant can face north, west, south or east and operates in steps. In each step it does the following: if the square the ant is on is white (black), it turns the square to black (white), turns 90 degrees to the right (left) and moves one square forward.
These simple rules produce a quite complex structure, seen below. The interesting thing is that initially the ant behaves **[chaotically](chaos.md)** but after about 10000 steps it suddenly ends up behaving in an ordered manner by building a "highway" that's a non-chaotic, repeating pattern. From then on it continues building the highway until the end of time.
These simple rules produce a quite complex visual structure, seen below. [Interesting](interesting.md) observation is that initially the ant behaves **[chaotically](chaos.md)** but after about 10000 steps it suddenly ends up acting in an ordered manner by building a "highway" that's a non-chaotic, repeating pattern, and thereafter continues building the highway until the end of time.
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