Can we use GLSL Shaders to compute Conways Game of Life? Yes, we can! Also we use SFML for very easy access to shaders and OpenGL
Just open the provided *.pro file with Qtcreator and compile or use gcc. The only external Dependency is SFML. https://www.sfml-dev.org/ Make sure, that the SFML Headers and Binaries are in your path! (Windows users might change the *pro file for their needs) Maybe you need to copy the glsl shaders to the Build folder, so the program can find them.
On Unix-Like systems it also should compile with
g++ -c -O3 -s -ffast-math -std=gnu++11 -o main.o main.cpp
g++ -o GameOfLife_Shaders main.o -lsfml-graphics -lsfml-system -lsfml-window
Also you can find a x86_64 comaptible Linux build in this Repo. Just run ./GameOfLife_Shaders
A little video, that shows, what it does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7FhqVFKAJY