| *C was a captain, all covered with lace;*
| *D was a drunkard, and had a red face.*
-Conventional -- static -- fiction can be written using nothing more than
+.. only:: html
+
+ .. image:: /images/picC.png
+ :align: left
+
+.. raw:: latex
+
+ \dropcap{c}
+
+onventional -- static -- fiction can be written using nothing more than
pencil and paper, or typewriter, or word-processor; however, the
requirements for producing IF are a little more extensive, and the creative
process slightly more complex.
* For IF, you still have to write all of the text, but you also have to
establish what text gets displayed when. Once you have written the
- necessary Inform instructions, you use a **compiler** program to convert
- them into a playable format. The resulting information is played by an
- **interpreter** program, which permits you to interact with your
- developing world.
+ necessary Inform instructions, you use a :term:`compiler` program to
+ convert them into a playable format. The resulting information is played
+ by an :term:`interpreter` program, which permits you to interact with
+ your developing world.
With static fiction What You Write Is What You Read, but with IF the format
in which you initially write the game doesn't bear much resemblance to the
text which the interpreter ultimately displays. For example, the "William
Tell" game, in the form that we wrote it, starts like this:
-.. code-block:: inform6
+.. code-block:: inform
!============================================================================
Constant Story "William Tell";
Class Room
has light;
- ! ...
+ ...
You will never need to look at it in the form produced by the compiler::
Clearly, there's more to writing IF than just laying down the words in the
right order. Fortunately, we can make one immediate simplification: the
translated form produced by the Inform compiler -- those cryptic numbers
-and letters held in what's known as the **story file** -- is designed to be
-read by the interpreter program. The story file is an example of a
+and letters held in what's known as the :term:`story file` -- is designed
+to be read by the interpreter program. The story file is an example of a
"binary" file, containing data intended for use only by a computer program.
Forget all that unreadable gibberish.
So that leaves just the first form -- the one starting "``Constant Story``"
--- which represents the tale written as a piece of IF. That's the **source
-file** (so called because it contains the game in its original, source,
-form) which you create on your computer. The source file is a "text" (or
-"ASCII") file containing words and phrases which can be read -- admittedly
-after a little tuition, which is what this guide is all about -- by humans.
+-- which represents the tale written as a piece of IF. That's the
+:term:`source file` (so called because it contains the game in its
+original, source, form) which you create on your computer. The source file
+is a "text" (or "ASCII") file containing words and phrases which can be
+read -- admittedly after a little tuition, which is what this guide is all
+about -- by humans.
How do you create that source file? Using a third software program: an
-**editor**. However, unlike the compiler and interpreter, this program
+:term:`editor`. However, unlike the compiler and interpreter, this program
isn't dedicated to the Inform system -- or even to IF. An editor is an
entirely general tool for creating and modifying text files; you've
probably already got a basic one on your computer (an IBM PC running
"VerbLib";`` a few lines down from the top of the file. These are
instructions to the Inform compiler to "include" -- that is, to merge in
the contents -- of files called ``Parser.h`` and ``VerbLib.h``. These are
-not files which you have to create; they're standard **library files**,
+not files which you have to create; they're standard :term:`library files`,
part of the Inform system. All that you have to do is remember to Include
them in every game that you write. Until you've a fair understanding of
how Inform works, you've no need to worry about what they contain (though
So, we've now introduced all of the bits and pieces which you need in order to
write an Inform adventure game:
-* a text **editor** program which can create and modify the **source file**
- containing the descriptions and definitions of your game. Although it's
- not recommended, you can even use a word-processing program to do this,
- but you have to remember to save your game in Text File format;
+* a text :term:`editor` program which can create and modify the
+ :term:`source file` containing the descriptions and definitions of your
+ game. Although it's not recommended, you can even use a word-processing
+ program to do this, but you have to remember to save your game in Text
+ File format;
-* some Inform **library files** which you Include in your own game source
- file in order to provide the model world -- a basic game environment and
- lots of useful standard definitions;
+* some Inform :term:`library files` which you Include in your own game
+ source file in order to provide the :term:`model world` -- a basic game
+ environment and lots of useful standard definitions;
-* the Inform **compiler** program, which reads your source file (and the
- library files) and translates your descriptions and definitions into
- another format -- the **story file** -- intended only for...
+* the Inform :term:`compiler` program, which reads your source file (and
+ the library files) and translates your descriptions and definitions into
+ another format -- the :term:`story file` -- intended only for...
-* an Inform **interpreter** program, which is what players of your game
+* an Inform :term:`interpreter` program, which is what players of your game
use. A player doesn't require the source file, library files or compiler
program, just the interpreter and the game in compiled format (which,
because it's a binary file not meaningful to human eyes, neatly
.. note::
- On the command line, you sometimes also see a compiler **switch**
+ On the command line, you sometimes also see a compiler :term:`switch`
such as ``-S``, used for controlling detailed aspects of how the
compiler operates. Rather than do that here, we find it more
convenient to place any necessary switches at the very top of the
Now, if you double-click the file, it should open in TextEdit so that
you can see how it's written, though it probably won't mean much -- yet.
- The above process may affect only this specific file. To change the
- program that opens by default all ``.inf`` files, try this:
+ .. note::
+
+ The above process may affect only this specific file. To change
+ the program that opens by default *all* ``.inf`` files, try this:
- * right-click on the file (or Ctrl-click)
+ * right-click on the file (or Ctrl-click)
- * select ``Get Info``
+ * select ``Get Info``
- * in the ``Open with`` tab, select TextEdit as the application
+ * in the ``Open with`` tab, select TextEdit as the application
- * click the ``Change All...`` button, and confirm the change when asked.
+ * click the ``Change All...`` button, and confirm the change when asked.
4. ``MyGame1.command`` is a Terminal Shell Script (a UNIX executable
command-line file, a kind of text-only computer program from the days
.. note::
- On the command line, you sometimes also see a compiler switch such as
- ``-S``, used for controlling detailed aspects of how the compiler
- operates. Rather than do that here, we find it more convenient to
- place any necessary switches at the very top of the source file, as
- we'll explain in the next chapter.
+ On the command line, you sometimes also see a compiler :term:`switch`
+ such as ``-S``, used for controlling detailed aspects of how the
+ compiler operates. Rather than do that here, we find it more
+ convenient to place any necessary switches at the very top of the
+ source file, as we'll explain in the next chapter.
Once you've finished editing those lines, ``Save`` the file (not
``SaveAs``), overwriting the original, and make sure that your text editor
The Inform compiler is a powerful but undramatic software tool; it does an
awful lot of work, but it does it all at once, without stopping to ask you
any questions. Its input is a readable text source file; the output is a
-story file, also sometimes known as a **Z-code file** (because it contains
-the game translated into code for the Z-machine, which we describe in the
-next section).
+story file, also sometimes known as a :term:`Z-code file` (because it
+contains the game translated into code for the Z-machine, which we describe
+in the next section).
If you're lucky, the compiler will translate your source file into Z-code;
perhaps surprisingly, it doesn't display any form of "success" message when
run on a PC, a Mac, an Amiga, UNIX workstations, IBM mainframes, PalmOS
hand-helds, and on dozens of other past, present and future computers. The
magic that makes this happen is the interpreter program, a software tool
-which pretends to be a simple computer called a **Z-machine**. The
+which pretends to be a simple computer called a :term:`Z-machine`. The
Z-machine is an imaginary (or "virtual") computer, but its design has been
very carefully specified, so that an expert programmer can quite easily
build one. And that's exactly what has happened: a Macintosh guru has
projects / ibg.git / blobdiff