Boids is a computer program that is used in simulations, games and computer animation but is
underappreciated. Boids is an artificial life program made in 1987 by craig Reynolds. Boids gets
its name from the term bird-oid object. Their goal was to simulate the flocking pattern of birds.
They work by following other boids in system with rules on how to move and where to go. The
main rules are separation; “boids move away from other boids that are too close,” Alignment;
“boids attempt to match the velocities of their neighbors” and Cohesion; boids move toward the
center mass of their neighbors. You can add more rules to create more unique behavior, from
adding a predator to avoid or food to find. The in-runtime nature of their movement allows for an
emergent behavior making them seem more realistic. uses in the modern day would be in
movies, games, and swarm robotics. The reason this is important is that learning this type of
programing is a great benefit. Learning how to create complex behavior with simple rules is a
great benefit to people who want to learn programming and coding. It teaches how to make large
complex systems with very little coding and on how to make modular designed code. it also has
usefulness for artist, it allows 3d artists to animate large groups of models in very little time, and
with some modifications to the rules can do so much more. From repurposing the follow
commands to make marching armies or large schools of fish, this model of programing can help
all type of people who work with programing or computers.