[ibg.git] / chapters / 15.rst

===================
Compiling your game
===================

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lmost as rarely as an alchemist producing gold from base metal, the 
compilation process turns your source file into a story file (though the 
more usual outcome is a reproachful explanation of why -- *again* -- 
that hasn't happened). The magic is performed by the compiler program, 
which takes your more or less comprehensible code and translates it into 
a binary file: a collection of numbers following a specific format 
understood only by Z-code interpreters.

On the surface, compilation is a very simple trick. You just run the 
compiler program, indicating which is the source file from which you 
wish to generate a game and presto! The magic is done.

However, the ingredients for the spell must be carefully prepared. The 
compiler "reads" your source code, but not as flexibly as a human would. 
It needs the syntax to follow some very precise rules, or it will 
complain that it cannot do its job under these conditions. The compiler 
cares little for meaning, and a lot about orthography, like a most 
inflexible teacher; no moist Bambi eyes are going to save you here.

Although the spell made by the compiler is always the same one, you can 
indicate up to a point how you want the magic to happen. There are a few 
options to affect the process of compilation; some you define in the 
source code, some with *switches* and certain commands when you run 
the program. The compiler will work with some default options if you 
don’t define any, but you may change these if you need to. Many of these 
options are provided "just in case" special conditions apply; others are 
meant for use of experienced designers with advanced and complex 
requirements, and are best left (for now) to those proficient in the 
lore.

Ingredients
===========

If the source file is not written correctly the compiler will protest, 
issuing either a *warning* message or an *error* message. Warnings are 
there to tell you that there may be a mistake that could affect the 
behaviour of the game at run-time; that won't stop the compiler from 
finishing the process and producing a story file. Errors, on the other 
hand, reflect mistakes that make it impossible for the compiler to 
output such a file. Of these, *fatal* errors stop compilation 
immediately, while *non-fatal* errors allow the compiler to continue 
reading the source file. (As you’ll see in a minute, this is perhaps a 
mixed blessing: while it can be useful to have the compiler tell you 
about as many non-fatal errors as it can, you'll often find that many of 
them are caused by the one simple slip-up.)

.. rubric:: Fatal errors

It's difficult – but not impossible – to cause a fatal error. If you 
indicate the wrong
file name as source file, the compiler won’t even be able to start, 
telling you:

    :samp:`Couldn't open source file {filename}`

If the compiler detects a large number of non-fatal errors, it may 
abandon the whole process with:

    :samp:`Too many errors: giving up`

Otherwise, fatal errors most commonly occur when the compiler runs out 
of memory or disk space; with today's computers, that's pretty unusual. 
However, you may hit problems if the story file, which must fit within 
the fairly limited resources specified by the Z-machine, becomes too 
large. Normally, Inform compiles your source code into a Version 5 file 
(that’s what the ``.z5`` extension you see in the output file 
indicates), with a maximum size of 256 Kbytes. If your game is larger 
than this, you’ll have to compile into Version 8 file (``.z8``), which 
can grow up to 512 Kbytes (and you do this very simply by setting the 
:option:`-v8` switch; more on that in a minute). It takes a surprising amount 
of code to exceed these limits; you won’t have to worry about game size 
for the next few months, if ever.

.. rubric:: Non-fatal errors

Non-fatal errors are much more common. You'll learn to be friends with:

    :samp:`Expected {something} but found {something else}`

This is the standard way of reporting a punctuation or syntax mistake. 
If you type a comma instead of a semicolon, Inform will be looking for 
something in vain. The good news is that you are pointed to the 
offending line of code::

  Tell.inf(76): Error: Expected directive, '[' or class name but found found_in
  >        found_in
  Compiled with 1 error (no output)

You see the line number (76) and what was found there, so you run to the 
source file and take a look; any decent editor will display numbers 
alongside your lines if you wish, and will usually let you jump to a 
given line number. In this case, the error was caused by a semicolon 
after the description string, instead of a comma:

.. code-block:: inform

  Prop    "assorted stalls"
    with  name 'assorted' 'stalls',
          description "Food, clothing, mountain gear; the usual stuff.";
          found_in street below_square,
  pluralname;

Here's a rather misleading message which maybe suggests that things in 
our source file are in the wrong order, or that some expected 
punctuation is missing::

  Fate.inf(459): Error: Expected name for new object or its textual short name
  but found door
  > Object door
  Compiled with 1 error (no output)

.. Generated by autoindex
.. index::
   pair: door; library attribute

In fact, there's nothing wrong with the ordering or punctuation. The 
problem is actually that we've tried to define a new object with an 
internal ID of :attr:`door` -- reasonably enough, you might think, since the 
object *is* a door -- but Inform already knows the word (it's the name 
of a library attribute). Unfortunately, the error message provides only 
the vaguest hint that you just need to choose another name: we used 
``toilet_door`` instead.

Once the compiler is off track and can't find what was expected, it's 
common for the following lines to be misinterpreted, even if there's 
nothing wrong with them. Imagine a metronome ticking away in time with a 
playing record. If the record has a scratch and the stylus jumps, it may 
seem that the rest of the song is out of sync, when it's merely a bit 
"displaced" because of that single incident. This also happens with 
Inform, which at times will give you an enormous list of things Expected 
but not Found. The rule here is: correct the first mistake on the list 
and recompile. It may be that the rest of the song was perfect.

It would be pointless for us to provide a comprehensive list of errors, 
because mistakes are numerous and, anyhow, the explanatory text usually 
indicates what was amiss. You'll get errors if you forget a comma or a 
semicolon. You'll get errors if your quotes or brackets don't pair up 
properly. You'll get errors if you use the same name for two things. 
You'll get errors -- for many reasons. Just read the message, go to the 
line it mentions (and maybe check those just before and after it as 
well), and make whatever seems a sensible correction.

.. rubric:: Warnings

Warnings are not immediately catastrophic, but you should get rid of them
to ensure a good start at finding run-time mistakes (see :doc:`16`). You
may declare a variable and then not use it; you may mistake assignment and
arithmetic operators (``=`` instead of ``==``); you may forget the comma
that separates properties, etc. For all these and many other warnings,
Inform has found something which is legal but doubtful.

One common incident is to return in the middle of a statement block, 
before the rest of statements can be reached. This is not always as 
evident as it looks, for instance in a case like this:

.. code-block:: inform

  if (steel_door has open) {
      print_ret "The breeze blows out your lit match.";
      give match ~light;
  }

In the above example, the ``print_ret`` statement returns true after the 
string has been printed, and the ``give match ~light`` line will never 
happen. Inform detects the fault and warns you. Probably the designer's 
intention was:

.. code-block:: inform

  if (steel_door has open) {
      give match ~light;
      print_ret "The breeze blows out your lit match.";
  }

Compiling *à la carte*
======================

One of the advantages of Inform is its portability between different 
systems and machines. Specific usage of the compiler varies accordingly, 
but some features should be in all environments. To obtain precise 
information about any particular version, run the compiler with the 
:option:`-h1` switch -- see :ref:`switches`.

.. Generated by autoindex
.. index::
   single: Strict mode

Often the compiler is run with the name of your source file as its only
parameter. This tells the compiler to "read this file using Strict mode and
from it generate a Version 5 story file of the same name". The source file
is mostly full of statements which define how the game is to behave at
run-time, but will also include compile-time instructions directed at the
compiler itself (although such an instruction looks a lot like a
:term:`statement`, it's actually quite different in what it does, and is
known as a :term:`directive`). We have already seen the ``Include``
directive:

  :samp:`Include "{filename}";`

When the compiler reaches a line like this, it looks for
:samp:`{filename}` -- another file also containing Inform code -- and
processes it as if the statements and directives included in
:samp:`{filename}` were in that precise spot where the ``Include`` 
directive is.

.. image:: /images/includes.png
  :align: center

In every Inform game we Include the library files ``Parser``, 
``VerbLib`` and ``Grammar``, but we may Include other files. For 
example, this is the way to incorporate library extensions contributed 
by other people, as you saw when we incorporated ``pname.h`` into our 
"Captain Fate" game.

.. note::

  On some machines, a library file is actually called -- for example -- 
  ``Parser.h``, on others just ``Parser``. The compiler automatically 
  deals with such differences; you can *always* type simply ``Include 
  "Parser";`` in your source file.

As you grow experienced in Inform, and your games become more complex, 
you may find that the source file becomes unmanageably large. One useful 
technique is then to divide it into a number of sections, each stored in 
a separate file, which you Include into a short master game file. For 
example:

.. code-block:: inform

  !============================================================================
  Constant Story "War and Peace";
  Constant Headline
              "^An extended Inform example
               ^by me and Leo Tolstoy.^";

  Include "Parser";
  Include "VerbLib";

  Include "1805";
  Include "1806-11";
  Include "1812A";
  Include "1812B";
  Include "1813-20";

  Include "Grammar";

  Include "Verbski";

  !============================================================================

.. _switches:

Switches
========

When you run the compiler you can set some optional controls; these are 
called *switches* because most of them are either on or off (although a 
few accept a numeric value 0–9). Switches affect compilation in a 
variety of ways, often just by changing the information displayed by the 
compiler when it’s running. A typical command line (although this may 
vary between machines) would be:

  :samp:`inform {source_file story_file switches}`

where "``inform``" is the name of the compiler, the :samp:`{story_file}` is
optional (so that you can specify a different name from the
:samp:`{source_file}`) and the switches are also optional. Note that
switches must be preceded by a hyphen ``-``; if you want to set, for
instance, Strict mode, you'd write :option:`-S` , while if you want to
deactivate it, you’d write :option:`-~S`. The tilde sign can, as elsewhere,
be understood as "not". If you wish to set many switches, just write them
one after another separated by spaces and each with its own hyphen, or
merge them with one hyphen and no spaces::

  inform MyGame.inf -S -s -X

  inform MyGame.inf -Ssx

Although there's nothing wrong with this method, it isn't awfully 
convenient should you need to change the switch settings. A more 
flexible method is to define the switches at the very start of your 
source file, again in either format::

  !% -S -s -X

  !% -Ssx

Normally, all switches are off by default, except Strict mode
(:option:`-S`), which is on and checks the code for additional
mistakes. It's well worth adding Debug mode (:option:`-D`), thus making the
debugging verbs available at run time. This is the ideal setting while
coding, but you should turn Debug mode off (just remove the :option:`-D`)
when you release your game to the public. This is fortunately very easy to
check, since the game banner ends with the letter "D" if the game was
compiled in Debug mode:

.. code-block:: transcript

  Captain Fate
  A simple Inform example
  by Roger Firth and Sonja Kesserich.
  Release 3 / Serial number 040804 / Inform v6.30 Library 6/11 SD

Switches are case sensitive, so you get different effects from ``-x`` 
and ``-X``. Some of the more useful switches are:

.. option:: -S
.. option:: -~S

   Set compiler Strict mode on or off, respectively.  Strict mode activates
   some additional error checking features when it reads your source file.
   Strict mode is on by default.

.. option:: -v5
.. option:: -v8

   .. Generated by autoindex
   .. index::
      single: Infocom

   Compile to this version of story file. Versions 5 (on by default) and 
   8 are the only ones you should ever care about; they produce, 
   respectively, story files with the extensions .z5 and .z8. Version 5 
   was the Advanced Infocom design, and is the default produced by 
   Inform. This is the version you'll normally be using, which allows 
   file sizes up to 256 Kbytes. If your game grows beyond that size, 
   you'll need to compile to the Version 8 story file, which is very 
   similar to Version 5 but allows a 512 Kbytes file size.

.. option:: -D
.. option:: -X

   Include respectively the debugging verbs and the Infix debugger in the 
   story file (see :doc:`16`).

.. option:: -h1
.. option:: -h2

   Display help information about the compiler. :option:`-h1` produces 
   innformation about file naming, and :option:`-h2` about the available 
   switches.

.. option:: -n
.. option:: -j

   :option:`-n` displays the number of declared attributes, properties and 
   actions. :option:`-j` lists objects as they are being read and constructed 
   in the story file.

.. option:: -s
.. option:: -~s

   Offer game statistics (or not). This provides a lot of information about
   your game, including the number of objects, verbs, dictionary entries,
   memory usage, etc., while at the same time indicating the maximum
   allowed for each entry. This can be useful to check whether you are
   nearing the limits of Inform.

.. option:: -r

   Record all the text of the game into a temporary file, useful to check 
   all your descriptions and messages by running them through a spelling 
   checker.

If you run the compiler with the :option:`-h2` switch, you’ll find that
there are many more switches than these, offering mostly advanced or
obscure features which we consider to be of little interest to beginners.
However, feel free to try whatever switches catch your eye; nothing you try
here will affect your source file, which is strictly read-only as far as
the compiler is concerned.