A Tale of Two Languages

Inform 6 Version:
120  daemon [;
121      if (location ~= server_room) return;
122      beeping = random(7);
123      switch (beeping) {
124          1: "^The beeping is driving you crazy.";
125          2: "^It's hard to think, with all of the beeping.";
126          3: "^The monotony of the beeping is maddening.";
127          4: "^You can't stand the beeping.";
128          5: "^The beeping reminds you of your alarm clock.";
129          6: "^beep . . . beep . . . beep . . . beep . . . beep
130               . . . beep . . .";
130          7: "^If you don't stop the beeping soon, you'll lose
132               what little hair you have left.";
133      }
134  ],

Inform 7 Version:
097  Every turn while in the server room, say "[one of]The beeping is
098      driving you crazy.[or]It's hard to think, with all of the
099      beeping.[or]The monotony of the beeping is maddening.[or]You
100      can't stand the beeping.[or]The beeping reminds you of your
101      alarm clock.[or]beep . . . beep . . . beep . . . beep . . .
102      [or]If you don't stop the beeping soon, you'll lose what
103      little hair you have left.[purely at random]"

Scoring is another thing that Inform 7 simplifies. In Inform 6, you can give an object the scored attribute, but for custom cases, like awarding 2 points instead of the default 1 point, you need to track things yourself (i6:150-156). In Inform 7, the process is much easier (i7:105-106, Listing 6).

Inform 6 Version:
150      before [;
151          Open:
152              if (openedtray == 1) {
153                  score = score + 2;
154                  openedtray = 2;
155              }
156      ],

Inform 7 Version:
105  After opening the CD tray for the first time: award 2 points;
106      say "You press the button and the CD tray pops out."

So, which version is best? If I had to choose my favorite of the two, it would be Inform 7, hands down.

I prefer Inform 7 not because I find Inform 6 difficult to use or because it's an unpleasant experience. On the contrary—Inform 6 is well designed and has excellent documentation for both beginners and advanced users. It also has some clear advantages—a main one being precision. Inform 6 will do exactly what you tell it to do. Inform 7, on the other hand, is less precise, and you sometimes need to fiddle with it to get it to do exactly what you want. This lack of precision is a result of how Inform 7 translates your code into Inform 6 prior to compilation—it has to guess at what you mean sometimes, and occasionally, it will get things wrong.

Despite some disadvantages, the reason that I prefer Inform 7 over Inform 6 is because I am more of a writer than a programmer. The closest I get to programming on a regular basis is bash scripting with a little PHP thrown in now and again. The natural sentence structure of writing something in Inform 7 is more intuitive to me than the C-like syntax of Inform 6. As a writer, I sometimes think to myself, “If when reading code I pronounce 'somevar=42' as 'somevar gets 42', why can't I write it that way?” I realize and accept that computer languages are as terse and precise as they are for many reasons, but I also think efforts like Inform 7 should be applauded and copied wherever and whenever possible.

The precision of Inform 6, as with other programming languages, is good in some instances, but bad in others. One misplaced comma or semicolon or bracket prevents your game from compiling, for example. Inform 7 is not exactly forgiving in this area either, but I find myself making fewer mistakes because of the flexible and natural way you're allowed to write.

Another big advantage of Inform 7 is the wonderful integrated IDE that comes with it, complete with excellent built-in documentation, a debugger and other tools. With Inform 6, compilation was a command-line affair that could be difficult to set up properly. I won't go into the Inform 7 IDE here, but if you are interested, see the two-part series “An Introduction to Gnome Inform 7” on the Linux Journal Web site.

With Inform 7, there's never been a better, or easier, time to create your own interactive masterpieces. So, find the key to the grate, and join me down underground. I'll be in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike, trying to find the bearded pirate who stole my gold—if the dwarf doesn't kill me first. XYZZY!