CA Maze
Written by Ron Helwig using Borland Turbo C++.

The object of this program is to demonstrate one
method of solving mazes. This version uses cellular
automata to find the solution path(s).

Menu Commands
-------------
NEW	create a totally filled maze. The user specifies
how large it should be, and then can edit it by clicking on
squares with the left mouse button. Moving the mouse over
the maze with the left mouse button pressed will toggle
the squares on or off.

OPEN	load a maze file.

SAVE
SAVE AS	save the file to disk. I use the filetype 'maz', but
there is no restriction in this program.

ITERATIONS	asks the user how many iterations of the
solution routine to do per click of the right mouse button.

SIZE	sets the size (in pixels) of each block. The maze is
a simple two dimensional array of square blocks.

RESTORE	returns the maze to the last loaded or saved position.

RANDOM	changes the currently selected maze randomly. Note that 
the maze may have no solution. It should be used as a starting 
point for developing new mazes.

Left Mouse Button when clicked on a maze block will toggle the
status of the block. A wall will become aisle, an aisle will
become wall.

Right Mouse Button when clicked will perform one (or more)
iteration(s) of solving the maze.

How it works
------------
The program uses cellular automata to solve the maze. 

The maze:
The maze consists of cells arranged in a 2 dimensional array.

The rules:
1) If an aisle cell is surrounded on three (or more) sides, it is
obviously a dead end. In this case it is turned into a wall cell.
example - WWW -> WWW
	  WaW -> WwW
	  ??? -> ???

2) If an aisle cell is surrounded by two wall cells, make it a
wall cell if it will not close the path.
example - WWW? -> WWW?
	  WaA? -> WwA?
	  WAA? -> WAA?
	  ???? -> ????

In both of these cases, it can be seen that the path is not
closed. However, in case 2, it might make a wide path thinner.


This program is to be distributed as freeware. I don't care how
or to whom you give this program. The purpose of this program was
to teach myself basic MS-Windows and C++ programming. If you
like it and/or have ideas for improving it, you may send comments
to helwig@staff.tc.umn.edu (at least for as long as I have
that account). I am planning to add printing capabilities
later, but for now I have better things to do.

I got the idea for this program from a Dr. Dobb's Journal
(Feb 1993) article about cellular automata. It contains the
basic algorithm for a two-dimensional array of cells using
the first rule.