Andrew PlotkinI guess people have already talked about the Infocom interpreter source code (https://github.com/erkyrath/infocom-zcode-terps) which I posted a few days ago. Nonetheless, slightly late, here’s my explainer post:
I guess I didn’t really think through my “didn’t want to make a big fuss” idea. :)
root42@zarfeblong thank you for the writeup. The history of Infocom is immensely interesting and in a way the Z-machine was probably the first commercially viable game engine.
Kazrak@zarfeblong An odd thought I had - has anyone ever implemented a modern interpreter with page swapping like the old 8-bit floppy-based games?
I have fond memories of trying commands that all returned immediately (because they were all default or otherwise in memory), and then suddenly you'd type something, the game would pause, the floppy drive would start beeping, and you'd know you'd found something new.
I'm sure I'd get sick of it fairly quickly, but having a terp that lets me switch on a mode like that is dangerously attractive.
@kazrak I feel like I’ve run across that (deliberate interpreter delays with fake drive-chugging noises). But years and years ago; I don’t remember.
john spurling@zarfeblong I find the empty #define for THEN in the #C code charming, e.g. here: https://github.com/erkyrath/infocom-zcode-terps/blob/master/unix/zip.c#L328
@synec Ha, yes.
Ethan Dicks@zarfeblong I've worked with these sources in the past. I was able to track down some of the original toolchain and rebuild some of the items.
In particular, I got the one for BBC Micro working, one that never escaped in a shipped product.
@zarfeblong I've also compiled the PDP-11 code and run it on RT-11.
It does take a 1-2 line mod to run on the RT-11 runtime for RSTS/E (very minor tweak to the memory allocator).
@ethandicks Ah, very good. I know nothing of these matters
@zarfeblong At VCF East 8.0 (2012) I hacked the RT-11 z-machine to run on Dave McGuire's PDP-11/70 and ran a cable over to my exhibit on Interactive Fiction.