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The article gets some other major details wrong, like: > Zork is not a PDP-10 executable, it’s actually a virtual machine executable, which is in turn run by a
by duskwuff 3y ago
The article gets some other major details wrong, like:
> Zork is not a PDP-10 executable, it’s actually a virtual machine executable, which is in turn run by an interpreter written for the PDP-10.
This summary confuses two or three different generations of Zork -- the original MDL and Fortran versions written at MIT (which did indeed run on the PDP-10) and the later ZIL reimplementation by Infocom (which used the Z-machine VM and was targeted at microcomputers). As far as I'm aware, there was never an interpreter for the PDP-10, only the -11, and even then only for internal use.
- teddyh 3y agoIf I recall correctly, the Infocom company was originally started to be a database company (hence the name), and the virtual machine interpreter was meant to run the LISP variant that they were going to use to write their database product. The database thing did not pan out, and they instead brushed off the old Zork program they got from the MIT systems, ported a piece of it (the whole original Zork for mainframes would not fit the micros they were targetting) to their virtual machine. Disclaimer: I have only ever read about this, and I’m probably misremembering many details.
- djur 3y agoThe database product came later in Infocom's life. The Z-machine was designed specifically to port Zork. Jimmy Maher covers the birth, life, and death of Infocom in great detail: https://www.filfre.net/2012/01/the-birth-of-infocom/ https://www.filfre.net/2012/01/the-birth-of-infocom/
- teddyh 3y agoIt’s amazing how rumors can distort the true story. I thank you for the authoritative link!
- larsbrinkhoff 3y agoThe Fortran version wasn't written at MIT.