Workshop › Conway's Game of Life › Step 11 of 32

Next generation with N

What we are doing

Now we see the rules at work: each press of the N key calls step() once, and the loop shows the new generation.

```js
document.addEventListener('keydown', (event) => {
  if (event.key.toLowerCase() === 'n') step()
})
```

What it means

• addEventListener('keydown', ...) runs the arrow function every time a key goes down.
• event.key is the key, like 'n' or 'N'; .toLowerCase() makes it small, so both work.

Your turn

Write the listener above function draw() {, with an empty line after it. Run, click the game, press N a few times.

Skills: Keyboard and mouse input

← Draw again and again Count the generations →

All steps

1. The board
2. Measure the grid
3. One living cell
4. A function that draws
5. The world in memory
6. Draw every living cell
7. A random soup
8. Count the neighbours
9. Four rules
10. Draw again and again
11. Next generation with N
12. Count the generations
13. Show the generation
14. A world without edges
15. Count the living
16. A generation every few frames
17. Let it live
18. Running or not
19. One place for the buttons
20. Space to play, N to step
21. Clear and shuffle
22. Where is the pointer?
23. Which cell?
24. Click a cell
25. Paint or erase?
26. Drag to paint
27. Patterns from text
28. The glider gun
29. Fire the gun
30. Buttons on the screen
31. Tap the buttons
32. Build it yourself: a world at rest