Past raif topics: Development: part 2

This is part two of a collection of Past raif topics to do with the "development" side of IF creation.

The first part may be found at Past raif topics: Development: part 1.

If you add or change any of the sections on this page, remember to update the entry on the Past raif topics page as well.

Parsing

See also => Parser .. Two-word parser .. Natural_language_processing (IFWiki articles)

• Why is writing your own parser so much fun ? (Apr 2000)
• Why parsers are difficult to write (Jan 2003)
• Making a parser - minimum requirements (Mar 2002)
• Parsing / parser construction (May 1996)
• Parsing / parser construction #2 (May 1996)
• Parsers / YACC + GUI tools (Aug 1999)
• Parser ability wish list (Dec 2000)
• What to expect of a good parser (Sep 2000)
• Parser ideas (Dec 2002)
• Proposed verb system for new IF language (Sep 1999)
• Parsing / would better parsers help IF ? (Mar 1994)
• Parsing, then and now (Sep 1997)
• Infocom & Magnetic Scrolls parsers (Apr 2001)
• Annoying parsers + Alan language (Nov 1999)
• Scope (May 1997)
• Synonyms & parser accepting nonsense (Jan 1998)
• Leaving out prepositions in commands ("look object") (Oct 2005, RGIF)
• Sentences accepted by parser (Jul 2004)
• Tricky sentences to parse (Apr 2001)
• Ambiguous commands ("get eggs and duck") (Nov 2000)
• How to parse things / code for parsing (Oct 2000)
• Description of a parser / implicit actions using goals (Feb 1990)
• Probabalistic interpreters (ungrammatical input, etc) (Dec 2004)
• Keyword matching / Inform & TADS version of ELIZA (Feb 1999)
• Skipping words during parsing (Mar 2002)
• Parsing + world models + text generation (May 1991)
• Improving IF parsers (Oct 2006)
• Parsing object names (Inform 6/7) (Jun 2006)
• Parsing / Abstract Transition Networks (ATNs) (May 1991)
• Case based parsing / Case theory (Nov 1993)
• Natural Language Processing (Jul 2002)
• Parsing a computer language vs a natural language (Apr 2000)
• World model & parser wish list (Mar 2004)
• Making assertions / "A is B" (Jan 1995)
• SHRDLU project ("blocks world") (Dec 2001)

Vocabulary

See also => Unrecognized Commands in the IF Gems review quotes collection (also in the IF Archive)
See also => Synonyms (IFWiki article)

• List of standard IF commands (Nov 1996)
• Vocabulary size of Infocom games (Mar 1992)
• Words recognized by Infocom games + writing IF in C (Feb 2000, RGIF)
• How much parser should understand (everything printed in game output ?) (Jun 1996)
• Which words to use and recognize / using words displayed by the game (Dec 1992)
• Speaking in "adventurese" / best tractible grammar for IF (Feb 2003, RGIF)
• Simple parsers / limited vocabulary (Sep 1993)
• Advantages of a limited vocabulary (Aug 2001)
• Simplified parser & the "use" verb (Apr 2000)
• Reduced set of verbs (Jun 1998, RGIF)
• "Next level" parser / adverbs (May 2005)
• Adverbs + CAVE IF system (Dec 1998)

Disambiguation

See also => Disamiguation in the IF Gems review quotes collection (also in the IF Archive)
See also => Disambiguation (IFWiki article)

• Disambiguation during parsing (Sep 1999)
• Disambiguation problems (Oct 2001)
• Disambiguation #2 (Oct 2001)
• Disambiguation / unlock door with key (Nov 1994)
• Disambiguation questions asked by parser / repeating the preposition (Sep 1998)
• Ambiguity of contents vs container name (eg. cereal, packet of cereal) (Nov 2000)
• Disambiguation & "branch" statement #1 (Jan 1998)
• Disambiguation & "branch" statement #2 (Jan 1998)
• Making disambiguation easier for the player (Jun 2005)

Other parser related issues

• Context sensitive pronouns (Jan 1997)
• "It" and pronouns / indirect objects (Dec 1998)
• Handling "it" pronoun + test games for new IF system (Nov 1999)
• When "all" is essential (Jan 1995)
• "All" with verbs other than "drop" & "take" (Jan 1995)
• Should "take all" include scenery objects ? (Jan 1998)
• When should "all" be allowed + actions that take more than one turn (Mar 1994)

Role of the parser

• The parser as another character (Jun 2001)
• Ambiguity / parser & player interaction (Jan 2001)

Editors and other tools / GUIs for IF development

See also => Roger Firth's List of IF Editors .. if-archive/programming/editors

• Which editor do people use ? (Aug 2005)
• Which editor for writing IF ? (Jul 1999)
• Text editor recommendations (Jan 1998)
• Good programming editors (Nov 1996)
• What is tedious to code in TADS ? (for Plugh) (Oct 2002)
• Editor for Alan / IF in general (Jan 2003)
• "Informer" windows IF editor / what makes a good editor (Feb 2000)
• Hugo editor (Aug 2002)
• Editors (Sep 2004)
• IF builder 1.0 + source (Feb 2003)
• IF editors / IDEs (Aug 2003)
• Map editor ideas / generating skeleton code from map (Jun 1996)
• GUI vs command line programming (May 1999)
• IF without programming / "point-and-click" IF creation (Dec 2006)
• Ideas for IF writers' tool / GUI (Mar 1999)
• GUIs + parsers (Aug 1999)
• GUI tool for TADS / Inform (May 1996)
• Plugh - a GUI for developing IF (proposal) (Jan 2000)
• Plugh IF design tool (Feb 2004)
• Plugh (answering arguments) (Feb 2004)
• Languages vs tools / visual tool for IF creation (Jan 1997)
• Visual authoring system requirements (Jul 1994)
• Visual authoring system requirements (summary) (Jul 1994)
• Visual Inform - why bother ? (Feb 1997)
• Visual Inform details (Feb 1997)
• Static game analysis (Oct 2004)
• Tool to check all object / verb interactions (Feb 2002)
• Tool to check for interactions between objects (Sep 2005)

IF libraries

• IF library ideas / common library (Oct 1999)
• What should go in the library + tricky things to implement (Sep 2006)
• What should be in an extension vs built into an IF language (Jul 2007)
• Common library for all IF languages (Sep 2003)
• Libraries vs custom programming + simulationism (footprints in the snow) (Sep 2005)
• IF library design + analysis of 72 newbie transcripts (Feb 2006)
• Need for a library / library ideas (Inform) (Sep 1997)
• TADS 2 library ideas (Jun 2002)
• Library of stock objects + programming vs creative writing (Dec 1997)
• Ideas for IF tools & libraries (Mar 2002)
• Creating / extending libraries (Jan 2004)
• Object Oriented library design (Jun 2002)
• Object Oriented Inform library / "Verb" vs "Object" Oriented (Nov 1998)
• Worldclass TADS library + limitations of Inform & TADS (Nov 1995)

Virtual machines

See also => Virtual machine .. Z-machine .. Glulx .. T3 VM (IFWiki articles)

• Reason for virtual machines / the Z machine stack (Oct 2005)
• Portability / Virtual Machines / why no "exe"s (Feb 2001)
• Importance of a powerful Virtual Machine + thoughts on Inform 7 (Feb 2007)
• Compiling from TADS, HUGO, etc to Z machine (Feb 1998)
• TADS to Z machine compiler ? (Oct 1999)
• Compiling TADS to Z machine (Mar 2001)
• Compiling to and disassembling Z code (Feb 2005, RGIF)
• Limitations of the Z machine / Glulx + how many commands to anticipate (Jul 2007)
• History of Z code & Inform (Jan 2000)
• Z machine history / 64K limit (Sep 1998)
• Extending the Z machine (May 1998)
• Multiple Undo on the Z machine / save_undo & restore_undo (Nov 1996)
• Z code vs Glulx Inform (Apr 2001)
• Why Glulx ? (Nov 2001)
• Glulx preliminary specification (Apr 1999)
• Glk and Glulx (Oct 2001)
• Glulx: cost of avoiding the stack (Feb 2007)
• Text / code compression (Glulx) (Jul 1999)
• Text compression #2 (Glulx) (Aug 1999)
• Virtual machines + new IF languages (Jun 1998)
• Mercat virtual machine (announcement) (Nov 1998)
• NIP virtual machine specification (Aug 1998)

Interpreters / portability / GLK

See also => Glk (IFWiki article)

• Why have an interpreter / portability (Feb 1998)
• Portability + limitations of Inform & TADS (Nov 1995)
• Purpose of GLK (Oct 1999)
• Glk text styles & fonts (proposal) (Jan 1998)
• GUIs + parsers (Aug 1999)

Saving and restoring

See also => Meta commands (undo, save, restore, restart, quit)

• Transcripts as game save files (Apr 2005)
• Saving story tree instead of game state (May 1995)
• Saving transcripts along with game state (Apr 2007, RGIF)

Coding / programming

See also => Writing: Creative writing (vs programming)

• Code organization (Dec 2005)
• Organising and folding code / database paradigm (Jan 2007)
• Code organization for Inform 7 (Jun 2006)
• How to organize Inform 7 source code (Nov 2006)
• IF code design / avoiding spaghetti code (Feb 1998)
• File organisation for game source code (Sep 1998)
• Version Control for IF code (Dec 2006)
• Inform & large IF projects (Apr 1998)
• Global variables in Inform (Nov 1998)
• Hacking IF libraries + takable actors (Inform) (Jan 1997)

Code generation

• Creating IF from within IF (Feb 2004)
• "Meta-game" IF creation interface / programming & debugging from an IF prompt (Dec 2006)
• txtMap adventure generator (from transcript input) (Jul 2007)
• Dungeon digger (Oct 2003)
• Writing the game while playing it (Dec 1998)
• Create-by-playing + making IF using VB 5 (Jun 1998)
• "Meta-game" IF programming interface (Dec 2006)

Computer science

• The halting problem (Sep 1999)
• Object Oriented programming (Dec 1997)
• Object Orientation / inheritance (Aug 1998)
• Strong typing (vs typeless languages) (Jun 1996)
• Implementing exceptions in Inform (Oct 1996)
• Implementing exceptions in Inform #2 (Oct 1996)
• Implementing exceptions in Inform #3 (Oct 1996)
• Random number generators (Jan 2006)

Testing

See also => The IF Beta Site Info Page
See also => Testing in the IF Gems review quotes collection (also in the IF Archive)
See also => Beta-testing .. Alpha-testing (IFWiki articles)

• How to test games (Sep 1996)
• Tips on conducting a beta test cycle (Aug 2005)
• Beta testing (Nov 2006)
• Beta testing web site (Mar 2003)
• Interacting with Beta Testers (Dec 2001)
• Advice for interacting with Beta-testers (Dec 2006)
• Should Beta-testers be given requested materials? (Jul 2007)
• Bug report etiquette (May 1996)
• Playing your own game vs reading transcript (Mar 2001)
• Unit & regression testing, code reviews (Dec 2001)
• Automated testing (Nov 2002)
• Unit testing / automated testing (Oct 2005)
• Usability testing IF (May 2004)

Debugging

See also => Infocom Bugs List

• Debugging / going to a point in the game (Oct 1993)
• Debugging and testing TADS 2 games (Apr 2002)