Drawing space-filling curves in logo

 

Vladimir Batagelj
Department of mathematics, FMF,
University of Ljubljana
Jadranska 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
email:
vladimir.batagelj@uni-lj.si

Abstract

Several space-filling and related curves are described by means of "simultaneous grammars". From these descriptions it is very easy to obtain short procedures in logo for drawing the curves.

Keywords

Space-filling curves, recursion, simultaneous grammar, logo, PostScript

1 Introduction

Several procedures for drawing particular space-filiing curves have been proposed in the literature [2, 7, 10, 12, 15, 16, 13]. In this paper we propose to describe space-filling and related curves by means of "simultaneous (nonlinear) grammars". By nonlinear we mean that objects described by the grammar are not linear strings but spatial (planar) configurations; and by simultaneous we mean that at each derivation step we choose a rule and apply it simultaneously to all "nonterminal parts" of the object. For our purposes this intuitive, informal notion of simultaneous grammars is sufficient. The rules governing the growth of a considered curve reflect the recursive patterns that can be observed in the examples of the curve. From this grammatical description of the curve it is very easy to obtain the corresponding drawing procedure.

Let us work out an example in details.

2 Hilbert curve

The nonterminals are represented by an arrow and the terminals by heavy lines which remain a permanent part of the objects. The axiom AH and the rules RH1 and RH2 should be understood as embedded in the plane.

 

AH.

RH1.

RH2.

 

We start with AH

by RH1 we obtain

and by RH2 we obtain H1

,but by RH1

 

and by RH2 we obtain H2

etc.

 

It is evident that we use the rule RH2 only once - at the last step of a derivation. Let hi(n) be the procedure to draw the n-th Hilbert curve Hn and ih(n) the procedure to draw Hn in the opposite direction. Then we can easily translate our description into the following logo commands:

TO Hi :n
IF :n = 0 [ STOP ]
RT 90 Ih :n - 1 FD :h LT 90 Hi :n - 1 FD :h
Hi :n - 1 LT 90 FD :h Ih :n - 1 RT 90
END

TO Ih :n
IF :n = 0 [ STOP ]
LT 90 Hi :n - 1 FD :h RT 90 Ih :n - 1 FD :h
Ih :n - 1 RT 90 FD :h Hi :n - 1 LT 90
END

Because RT a = LT -a we can, introducing another parameter :d and denoting H 1 º Hi and H -1 º Ih, combine these two commands into a single command:

TO H :d :n
IF :n = 0 [ STOP ]
RT :d*90 H (-:d) :n - 1 FD :h LT :d*90 H :d :n - 1 FD :h
H :d :n - 1 LT :d*90 FD :h H (-:d) :n - 1 RT :d*90
END

Figure 1 Hilbert curve and Peano curve

or finally, to avoid multiplication

TO Hilb :n :a :h
IF :n = 0 [ STOP ]
RT :a Hilb :n - 1 (-:a) :h FD :h LT :a Hilb :n - 1 :a :h
FD :h
Hilb :n - 1 :a :h LT :a FD :h Hilb :n - 1 (-:a) :h RT :a
END

TO Hilbert
PU SETPOS [-150 -150] PD SETPC [000 000 255]
Hilb 5 90 10
END

In a similar way we can develop drawing procedures also for the following curves. In the examples MicroSoft Windows Logo [11] is used. The PostScript pictures of space-filling curves, presented in figures, were produced by Logo2PS [1].

3 Peano curve

AP.

RP1.

RP2.

RP3.

RP4.

   

 

TO Pean :n :a :h
IF :n = 0 [STOP]
RT :a Pean :n - 1 (-:a) :h FD :h Pean :n - 1 :a :h
FD :h Pean :n - 1 (-:a) :h LT :a
END

TO Peano
PU SETPOS [ -150 -160 ] PD SETPC [255 000 000]
SetScreenColor [000 255 000] Pean 6 90 12
END

4 Grate curve

AG.

RG1.

RG2.

RG3.

RG4.

   

 

TO TWO :a :c :w
IF :c < 1 [ STOP ]
RT :a FD 1 RT :a FD :w LT :a IF :c > 1 [FD 1]
LT :a FD :w TWO :a :c - 2 :w
END

TO Square :a :h :w
FD :w TWO :a :h - 1 :w
END
TO Cag :n :a :w :h
IF :n = 0 [ Square :a :h :w STOP ]
RT :a Cag :n - 1 (-:a) :h/4 :w FD :h/8
Cag :n - 1 :a :h/4 :w FD :h/8
Cag :n - 1 (-:a) :h/4 :w LT :a
END
TO Cage
PU SETPOS [ -160 -160 ] PD SETPC [0 0 0]
SetScreenColor [255 100 100] Cag 4 90 320 320
END

Figure 2 Grate curve and Sierpinski curve.

5 Sierpinski curve

AS.

RS1.

RS2.

 

TO Sierp :n :a :h :k
IF :n = 0 [ FD :k STOP ]
RT :a Sierp :n - 1 (-:a) :h :k LT :a FD :h
LT :a Sierp :n - 1 (-:a) :h :k RT :a
END

TO Sierpinski
PU SETPOS [ -160 -170 ] PD MAKE "h 12/sqrt 2
SETPC [200 000 200] SetScreenColor [255 255 000]
REPEAT 4 [ Sierp 7 45 :h 10 RT 45 FD :h RT 45 ]
SetFloodColor [000 255 000] PU SetPos [-155 -170] PD FILL
END

 

Figure 3 Wirth curve and Dragon curve.

6 Wirth curve

AW.

RW1.

RW2.

RW3.

 

TO wi :n :a :h :k
IF :n = 0 [ FD :h STOP ]
RT :a iw :n (-:a) :h :k LT :a FD :h
LT :a iw :n (-:a) :h :k RT :a
END

TO iw :n :a :h :k
RT :a wi :n - 1 (-:a) :h :k FD :k LT 2 * :a
FD :k wi :n - 1 (-:a) :h :k RT :a
END

TO Wirth
PU SETPOS [ -155 -153 ] PD
SETPC [0 0 0] SetScreenColor [150 150 255]
REPEAT 4 [ wi 4 45 7 3 FD 3 RT 90 FD 3 ] PU
SetFloodColor [255 255 0] PU SetPos [-150 -150] PD FILL
END

7 Dragon curve

AD.

RD1.

RD2.

 

TO Drag :n :a :h
IF :n < 1 [ FD :h STOP ]
Drag :n - 1 90 :h RT :a Drag :n - 1 -90 :h
END

TO Dragon
PU SETPOS [ -60 -100 ] PD LT 90
SETPC [255 000 000] SetPenSize [2 2]
Drag 11 90 7
END

8 Knuth curve

AK.

RK1.

RK2.

RK3.

RK4.

   

 

TO Knu :n :a :t :h
IF :n = 0 [ RT 45 + :t FD :h LT 45 + :t STOP ]
RT 2 * :t + :a Knu :n - 1 2 * :t (-:t) :h
RT 45 - 3 * :t - :a FD :h LT 45 - :t + :a
Knu :n - 1 0 (-:t) :h RT :a
END

TO Knuth
PU SETPOS [ 250 -130 ] PD LT 90
SETPC [255 255 255] SetScreenColor [000 000 000]
Knu 9 -90 45 8
END

Figure 4 Knuth curve and Antenna tree.

9 Antenna tree

AT.

RT1.

RT2.

TO Tr :n :h :q
IF :n = 0 [ STOP ]
FD :h LT 90 Tr :n - 1 :q * :h :q LT 90 FD 2 * :h LT 90
Tr :n - 1 :q * :h :q LT 90 FD :h
END

TO Tree
HOME RT 90 SETPC [0 0 0] SetScreenColor [255 255 000]
Tr 10 120 1 / sqrt 2
END

A MSWLogo source file for space-filling curves is available on:

http://vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/educa/logo/ex/mix/recurves.lgo

References

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