A Tale of Two Languages

Listing 1. Describing a CD Tray in Inform 7

094  The CD Tray is part of the old server.
095      The description is "It's a CD tray."

Listing 2. Essential Code for Compiling Inform 6

001  !% -SD
002  
003  !========================================================
004  Constant Story "The Server Room";
005  Constant Headline
006      "^An Interactive Fiction by Daniel Bartholomew.^";
007  Release 1; Serial "080625"; !for keeping track of releases
.
.
172  !========================================================
173  ! Entry point routines
174  
175  [ Initialise;
176      location = break_room;
177      "^^^^It's Saturday, a nice one at that, and you've been
178          called to fix a server. Again.^^You've had it. This
179          server is going to run Linux starting today! The process
180          will be easy, just put the disc into the server go.
181          Now where is that Ubuntu CD?^";
182  ];
183  
184  [ Deathmessage;
185      if (deadflag == 5) print "You have won";
186  ];
187  
188  !========================================================
189  ! Standard and Extended Grammar
190  
191  Include "Grammar";
192  
193  !========================================================

Listing 3. Initial Program Code for Inform 7

001  "The Server Room" by "Daniel Bartholomew"
002  
003  Include GNU GPL v3 by Free Software Foundation.
004  
005  The maximum score is 6.
006
007  When play begins, say "It's Saturday, a nice one at that,
008      and you've been called to fix a server. Again.
009      [paragraph break]You've had it. This server is going to
010      run Linux starting today! The process will be easy, just put
011      the disk in the server and go. Now where is that Ubuntu CD?"

Listing 4. Syntax for Describing a Room

Inform 6 Version:
114  description "The fans, the lights, the chill... yep, it's a
115      server room. Full of servers from a dozen vendors,
116      each with their own quirks.^^Your attention is
117      immediately drawn to a server 2/3 of the way up rack 7.
118      The indicator light is blinking red and beeping.",

Inform 7 Version:
082  The Server Room is a room. "The fans, the lights, the chill...
083      yep it's a server room. Full of servers from a dozen
084      vendors, each with their own quirks.[paragraph break]Your
085      attention is immediately drawn to a server 2/3 of the way up
086      rack 7.  The indicator light is blinking red and beeping."