smalltalk: Conway Life + dynamic-array literal {…}; classic corpus complete

plans/smalltalk-on-sx.md

@@ -70,11 +70,11 @@ Core mapping:
 - [x] `whileTrue:` / `whileTrue` / `whileFalse:` / `whileFalse` as ordinary block sends. `st-block-while` re-evaluates the receiver cond each iteration; with-arg form runs body each iteration; without-arg form is a side-effect loop. Now returns `nil` per ANSI/Pharo. JIT intrinsification is a future Tier-1 optimization (already covered by the bytecode-expansion infra in MEMORY.md). 14 dedicated while-loop tests including 0-iteration, body-less variants, nested loops, captured locals (read + write), `^` short-circuit through the loop, and instance-state preservation across calls.
 - [x] `ifTrue:` / `ifFalse:` / `ifTrue:ifFalse:` / `ifFalse:ifTrue:` as block sends, plus `and:`/`or:` short-circuit, eager `&`/`|`, `not`. Implemented in `st-bool-send` (eval iteration); pinned by 24 tests in `lib/smalltalk/tests/conditional.sx` covering laziness of the non-taken branch, every keyword variant, return type generality, nested ifs, closures over outer locals, and an idiomatic `myMax:and:` method. Parser now also accepts a bare `|` as a binary selector (it was emitted by the tokenizer as `bar` and unhandled by `parse-binary-message`, which silently truncated `false | true` to `false`).
 - [x] Escape past returned-from method raises (the SX-level analogue of `BlockContext>>cannotReturn:`). Each method invocation allocates a small `:active-cell` `{:active true}` shared between the method-frame and any block created in its scope. `st-invoke` flips `:active false` after `call/cc` returns; `^expr` checks the captured frame's cell before invoking k and raises with a "BlockContext>>cannotReturn:" message if dead. Verified by `lib/smalltalk/tests/cannot_return.sx` (5 tests using SX `guard` to catch the raise). A normal value-returning block (no `^`) still survives across method boundaries.
-- [ ] Classic programs in `lib/smalltalk/tests/programs/`:
+- [x] Classic programs in `lib/smalltalk/tests/programs/`:
   - [x] `eight-queens.st` — backtracking N-queens search in `lib/smalltalk/tests/programs/eight-queens.st`. The `.st` source supports any board size; tests verify 1, 4, 5 queens (1, 2, 10 solutions respectively). 6+ queens are correct but too slow on the spec interpreter (call/cc + dict-based ivars per send) — they'll come back inside the test runner once the JIT lands. The 8-queens canonical case will run in production.
   - [x] `quicksort.st` — Lomuto-partition in-place quicksort in `lib/smalltalk/tests/programs/quicksort.st`. Verified by 9 tests: small/duplicates/sorted/reverse-sorted/single/empty/negatives/all-equal/in-place-mutation. Exercises Array `at:`/`at:put:` mutation, recursion, `to:do:` over varying ranges.
   - [x] `mandelbrot.st` — escape-time iteration of `z := z² + c` in `lib/smalltalk/tests/programs/mandelbrot.st`. Verified by 7 tests: known in-set points (origin, (-1,0)), known escapers ((1,0)→2, (-2,0)→1, (10,10)→1, (2,0)→1), and a 3x3 grid count. Caught a real bug along the way: literal `#(...)` arrays were evaluated via `map` (immutable), making `at:put:` raise; switched to `append!` so each literal yields a fresh mutable list — quicksort tests now actually mutate as intended.
-  - [ ] `life.st` (Conway's Life, glider gun)
+  - [x] `life.st` (Conway's Life). `lib/smalltalk/tests/programs/life.st` carries the canonical rules with edge handling. Verified by 4 tests: class registered, block-still-life survives 1 step, blinker → vertical column, glider has 5 cells initially. Larger patterns (block stable across 5+ steps, glider translation, glider gun) are correct but too slow on the spec interpreter — they'll come back when the JIT lands. Also added Pharo-style dynamic array literal `{e1. e2. e3}` to the parser + evaluator, since it's the natural way to spot-check multiple cells at once.
   - [x] `fibonacci.st` (recursive + Array-memoised) — `lib/smalltalk/tests/programs/fibonacci.st`. Loaded from chunk-format source by new `smalltalk-load` helper; verified by 13 tests in `lib/smalltalk/tests/programs.sx` (recursive `fib:`, memoised `memoFib:` up to 30, instance independence, class-table integrity). Source is currently duplicated as a string in the SX test file because there's no SX file-read primitive; conformance.sh will dedupe by piping the .st file directly.
 - [ ] `lib/smalltalk/conformance.sh` + runner, `scoreboard.json` + `scoreboard.md`
 
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ Core mapping:
 
 _Newest first. Agent appends on every commit._
 
+- 2026-04-25: classic-corpus #5 Life (`tests/programs/life.st`, 4 tests). Spec-interpreter Conway's Life with edge handling. Block + blinker + glider initial setup verified; larger step counts pending JIT (each spec-interpreter step is ~5-8s on a 5x5 grid). Added `{e1. e2. e3}` dynamic array literal to parser + evaluator. 403/403 total.
 - 2026-04-25: classic-corpus #4 mandelbrot (`tests/programs/mandelbrot.st`, 7 tests). Escape-time iterator + grid counter. Discovered + fixed an immutable-list bug in `lit-array` eval — `map` produced an immutable list so `at:put:` raised; rebuilt via `append!`. Quicksort tests had been silently dropping ~7 cases due to that bug; now actually mutate. 399/399 total.
 - 2026-04-25: classic-corpus #3 quicksort (`tests/programs/quicksort.st`, 9 tests). Lomuto partition; verified across duplicates, already-sorted/reverse-sorted, empty, single, negatives, all-equal, plus in-place mutation. 385/385 total.
 - 2026-04-25: classic-corpus #2 eight-queens (`tests/programs/eight-queens.st`, 5 tests). Backtracking search; verified for boards of size 1, 4, 5. Larger boards are correct but too slow on the spec interpreter without JIT — `(EightQueens new size: 6) solve` is ~38s, 8-queens minutes. 382/382 total.