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When code is a maze describes my 1988 IOCCC entry [1]

    char*M,A,Z,E=40,J[40],T[40];main(C){for(*J=A=scanf(M="%d",&C);
    --            E;             J[              E]             =T
    [E   ]=  E)   printf("._");  for(;(A-=Z=!Z)  ||  (printf("\n|"
    )    ,   A    =              39              ,C             --
    )    ;   Z    ||    printf   (M   ))M[Z]=Z[A-(E   =A[J-Z])&&!C
    &    A   ==             T[                                  A]
    |6<<27<rand()||!C&!Z?J[T[E]=T[A]]=E,J[T[A]=A-Z]=A,"_.":" |"];}

[1] https://tromp.github.io/pearls.html#maze

ghgr 3 hours ago [ - ]

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

If, like me, you're trying to compile it, don't forget to set the

    -std=gnu89

flag in gcc, so:

    gcc -std=gnu89 -w -o maze maze.c

Then run it as:

    echo 10 | ./maze

wumms 3 hours ago [ - ]

Got seg fault (gcc 15.2.0 on nixos 26.05) when writing to

    M[Z] = ...

Had to add:

    char fmt[] = "%d";

and change to:

    scanf(M=fmt,&C);

Works now:

    char*M,A,Z,E=40,J[40],T[40];main(C){char fmt[]="%d";for(*J=A=scanf(M=fmt,&C);
    --            E;             J[              E]             =T
    [E   ]=  E)   printf("._");  for(;(A-=Z=!Z)  ||  (printf("\n|"
    )    ,   A    =              39              ,C             --
    )    ;   Z    ||    printf   (M   ))M[Z]=Z[A-(E   =A[J-Z])&&!C
    &    A   ==             T[                                  A]
    |6<<27<rand()||!C&!Z?J[T[E]=T[A]]=E,J[T[A]=A-Z]=A,"_.":" |"];}