Artificial life models and their classification

In this paper an analytical review and classification of artificial life models are given. Artificial life is an interdisciplinary field aiming to reveal principals of dynamics inherent in biological systems and to reproduce them in human-made technical systems. The results of artificial life modeling are important both for biological studying and for producing new engineering solutions. As a rule, artificial life models demonstrate the process of formation of high-level structures in “bottom-up” direction by means of system effects, which appear through rather simple interactions of lower-level structures. In this paper software and hardware models are considered. Special attention is given to the models of artificial chemistry, namely classical models and to models of communities of evolving assembler programs. The importance of artificial chemistry models for future development of theoretical informatics and theory of programming is shown.