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> In general, Infocom games were created by taking previous Infocom source code, copying the directory, and making changes until the game worked the way the cur

> In general, Infocom games were created by taking previous Infocom source code, copying the directory, and making changes until the game worked the way the current Implementor needed. Structure, therefore, tended to follow from game to game and may or may not accurately reflect the actual function of the code. Some things never change... EDIT: this is how I do most of my personal projects!

coldtea 7y ago
Well, they worked for them, so why should they?
- z3t4 7y ago
  I think the parent means that is still how we do software, eg. coyping resembling code and modifying it until it does what we want.
  - coldtea 7y ago
    And I mean "If it works for modern devs too, so?"
    - sythe2o0 7y ago
      The parent isn't saying it is bad practice.
    - flatline 7y ago
      For OP’s personal projects? Meh, it works but will sometimes cause you problems. For a team of 10+ software devs? Disaster!
bantunes 7y ago
I think this has to do with the authors being more literary than tech savvy.
- pavlov 7y ago
  Infocom was famously tech savvy though. The founders came from MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) where they developed the first Zork adventure.
- icedchai 7y ago
  Nah, that's how I'd do it, too.
- anthk 7y ago
  The Z-machine is one of the technical marvels of the era. I doubt it. It was the Java of its day.
chatmasta 7y ago
And developer sense of humor about code quality remains the same... https://github.com/historicalsource/zork/blob/70d16c9c817bc19f393d4f6b42bd59c1b2a8d528/rooms.mud#L172-L193 https://github.com/historicalsource/zork/blob/70d16c9c817bc1...
- themodelplumber 7y ago
  That word "issue" used in the context of a printed magazine... seems like you don't hear it used much anymore.
  - samirm 7y ago
    I think the reference was to the function names.
- tobbebex 7y ago
  Indeed, it even has a Y2K bug in it!
sehugg 7y ago
This is definitely how I do all my LaTeX projects.
aaaaaar 7y ago
I wonder if that's how they developed Cornerstone. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_%28software%29 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_%28software%29 Just rip some code out here, change some there, until it looks like a relational database :)

coldtea 7y ago

Well, they worked for them, so why should they?

z3t4 7y ago
I think the parent means that is still how we do software, eg. coyping resembling code and modifying it until it does what we want.
- coldtea 7y ago
  And I mean "If it works for modern devs too, so?"
  - sythe2o0 7y ago
    The parent isn't saying it is bad practice.
  - flatline 7y ago
    For OP’s personal projects? Meh, it works but will sometimes cause you problems. For a team of 10+ software devs? Disaster!

bantunes 7y ago

I think this has to do with the authors being more literary than tech savvy.

pavlov 7y ago
Infocom was famously tech savvy though. The founders came from MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) where they developed the first Zork adventure.
icedchai 7y ago
Nah, that's how I'd do it, too.
anthk 7y ago
The Z-machine is one of the technical marvels of the era. I doubt it. It was the Java of its day.

chatmasta 7y ago

And developer sense of humor about code quality remains the same... https://github.com/historicalsource/zork/blob/70d16c9c817bc19f393d4f6b42bd59c1b2a8d528/rooms.mud#L172-L193 https://github.com/historicalsource/zork/blob/70d16c9c817bc1...

themodelplumber 7y ago
That word "issue" used in the context of a printed magazine... seems like you don't hear it used much anymore.
- samirm 7y ago
  I think the reference was to the function names.
tobbebex 7y ago
Indeed, it even has a Y2K bug in it!

sehugg 7y ago

This is definitely how I do all my LaTeX projects.

aaaaaar 7y ago

I wonder if that's how they developed Cornerstone. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_%28software%29 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_%28software%29 Just rip some code out here, change some there, until it looks like a relational database :)