MZ: A 3270 maze program
July 7, 1999

OK, here's where we get a bit silly. MZ is a maze program I wrote about a million years ago when I was learning to use graphic escape sequences to draw pretty lines and boxes in ISPF. Around that same time, I happened upon a maze creation algorithm that I thought was really interesting and I wanted to try it (geek alert!). The result is MZ.

MZ creates mazes which are solvable. From any point in the maze, there is one and only one direct path to any other point. You can specify starting and ending points by placing the cursor in the maze and pressing enter. The default starting and ending points are the upper left and lower right respectively. The PF keys show the solution either by the most direct route, by following the left wall or by following the right wall.

MZ is available as a TSO XMIT format load module.
The source is available too, but be forewarned that it is PL/X and generated assembler.

To get the program using Netscape or Internet Explorer, select the link above with the right mouse button and select 'Save Link As...' or Save Target as...'. 

See the installation instructions below for more information.

Function

To show how ISPF graphic escape sequences can create pretty boxes on a 3270 by displaying a solvable maze.

Calling Syntax from ISPF:

TSO MZ
or
TSO CALL 'userid.MZ.LOAD(MZ)'

Output

See below.

Installation

1. Copy mz.xmi to your PC in BINARY format
2. Upload the file in BINARY to a FIXED 80 SEQUENTIAL file named MZ.XMI
3. On TSO, type RECEIVE INDA(MZ.XMI) and at the prompt respond DA(MZ.LOAD)
4. Copy MZ.LOAD to any accessible load module data set (STEPLIB, LINKLIB, ISPLLIB, LPA, etc) or just type CALL MZ(MZ)

Sample

Click here to view a larger maze generated by MZ.