X-Git-Url: https://jxself.org/git/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=chapters%2F16.rst;h=c2543c44b83d8cf1778790e06d5d5c56d8953f3e;hb=81deb40a92a715b3ef8037535806b01d4fe2f5fa;hp=a255484c2711d98ff82040187b51505537cf4760;hpb=2a223f38ada318aa468e46210b7f92941816100e;p=ibg.git diff --git a/chapters/16.rst b/chapters/16.rst index a255484..c2543c4 100644 --- a/chapters/16.rst +++ b/chapters/16.rst @@ -7,16 +7,12 @@ .. image:: /images/picN.png :align: left -.. raw:: latex - - \dropcap{n} - -obody understands the phrase *errare humanum est* quite in the same way -as a programmer does. Computers are highly efficient machines capable of -wondrous calculations, but they lack imagination and insist that every -single item thrown at them must be presented according to certain rules -previously defined. You can't negotiate with a computer; you either bow -in submission or bite the dust. +|N|\obody understands the phrase *errare humanum est* quite in the same +way as a programmer does. Computers are highly efficient machines +capable of wondrous calculations, but they lack imagination and insist +that every single item thrown at them must be presented according to +certain rules previously defined. You can't negotiate with a computer; +you either bow in submission or bite the dust. Inform behaves no differently. If you make a typing or syntax mistake, the compiler will send you back to revise your work. "It was just a @@ -268,11 +264,16 @@ GOTO *number* PURLOIN *object* + .. Generated by autoindex + .. index:: + pair: scenery; library attribute + pair: static; library attribute + PURLOIN works exactly as TAKE , with the nice addition that it doesn't matter where the object is: in another room, inside a locked container, in the claws of the bloodthirsty dragon. More dangerously, it doesn't matter if the object is takeable, so you may purloin - ``static`` or ``scenery`` objects. PURLOIN is useful in a variety of + :attr:`static` or :attr:`scenery` objects. PURLOIN is useful in a variety of situations, basically when you want to test a particular feature of the game that requires the player character to have some objects handy. Instead of tediously collecting them, you may simply PURLOIN @@ -281,10 +282,16 @@ PURLOIN *object* ABSTRACT *object* TO *object* + .. Generated by autoindex + .. index:: + pair: animate; library attribute + pair: container; library attribute + pair: supporter; library attribute + This verb enables you to move the first *object* to the second *object*. As with PURLOIN , both objects can be anywhere in the game. Bear in mind that the second object should logically be a - ``container``, a ``supporter`` , or something ``animate``. + :attr:`container`, a :attr:`supporter` , or something :attr:`animate`. Infix: the harlot's prerogative @@ -317,8 +324,8 @@ inspect -- and change -- a variable: In that game you scored 0 out of a possible 2, in 2 turns. It's often quite maddening to realise that some variable is still -``false`` because the Chalk puzzle didn't work properly, and that you -can't test the Cheese puzzle until the variable becomes ``true``. Rather +:const:`false` because the Chalk puzzle didn't work properly, and that you +can't test the Cheese puzzle until the variable becomes :const:`true`. Rather than quit, fix the Chalk, recompile, play back to the current position and only *then* tackle the Cheese, how much easier to just change the variable in mid-stream, and carry right on. @@ -371,13 +378,6 @@ change: "OK, Herr Tell, now you're in real trouble. ... -.. todo:: - - "Herr" above is italicized. Was that a mistake in the original text? - - Update: I don't think so. In 08.rst, lines 465 and 516, "Herr" is - explicitly underlined (which probably appears italicized on output). - Infix is quite complex -- there are more commands than those we have shown you -- so while it's good to have available, it's not really a tool for novices. If you do use it, be careful: you get a lot of runtime @@ -427,6 +427,10 @@ Of course, the code we've offered you in *this* edition takes care of those embarrassing issues, but it might very well happen that a few more undetected absurdities pop up from now on. +.. Generated by autoindex +.. index:: + single: RAIF + The final stage of debugging must happen elsewhere, at the hands of some wilful, headstrong and determined beta-testers; these are the people who, if you’re lucky, will methodically tear your game to shreds and