 System Details |
 Table of Contents |
 Future Development |
F VERSION DIFFERENCES
Version 2.8
A number of bug fixes have been performed in this release, mainly various problems with syntax declarations and named scripts.
A new statement has been introduced. The
DEPENDING ON
statement is an improved version of the common switch/case statement available in many other languages.
Two new expression types have also been introduced. The
CONTAINS
expressions performs sub-string containment tests, and the
BETWEEN
expression makes it easy to test if a value is within a specified, consecutive, range.
SCHEDULE
and
RANDOM
now accepts general expressions instead of only literals.
Version 2.7
This version introduces the following radical improvements:
-
objects no longer need be present to be used in a player command, the normal case is still that they are required to be present but this default behaviour can now be overridden using omnipotent indicator in the syntax clause.
-
general attributes are now available, i.e. attributes that all objects, actors
and
actors have can be declared using the new
DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES
clause.
-
objects and actors can now have multiple names giving the opportunity for synonyms for entities and not only for words.
Multiple minor improvements has also been made, e.g. free order of declaration of initial location and names, ',' can now be used as a conjunction in player input, a new
RESTART
statement, the
MESSAGE
clause now accepts general statements (not only strings) and named actor scripts.
Version 2.6
The 2.6 interpreter will run 2.5 games, but the 2.6 compiler can not generate 2.5 games. So upgrading to 2.6 will create games only playable with 2.6 interpreters, but you can keep old games and still play them.
User definition of run-time messages is now possible.
Removed the indefinite article from the default messages. Instead introduced the
ARTICLE
slot in objects which will be used (if present) before producing the
MENTIONED
message (which may be constructed automatically). If no article is declared a default is supplied ("a" if using english). This means that some tricks that have been used to somewhat remedy the article problem ('a' was always used!), don't work any more. Remove all 'a', 'an' etc. from the texts and names in the Alan source (usually in the
MENTIONED
slot and possibly in the
HEADER
for containers), and introduce the
ARTICLE "an"
declaration on objects that require it (those whose name start with a vowel sound). For objects that doesn't need an article define an empty
ARTICLE
clause.
It also means that their is now a new reserved word
ARTICLE
.
It is also now possible to define the
ARTICLE
,
MENTIONED
and
DESCRIPTION
on objects in any order.
Version 2.5
String quotes (") within strings are now allowed, if doubled (
"Charlie said ""Hello!"""
). The same goes for single quotes (') within quoted identifiers.
(Luis Torres <let@reef.cis.ufl.edu>)
Multiple default attribute sections simplifies using general include files as the default attributes can be distributed across the complete adventure source.
The new VISITS statement replaces the previous option with the same name, allowing setting of the
visits
variable during run-time.
The compiler now generates completely compatible adventure files, including multi-national character sets which are converted automatically to be presented correctly on any supported platform.
If the interpreter is renamed it will automatically load adventure files (
.acd
and
.dat
) with the same name.
(Jeff Harrison <harrison@mprgate.mpr.ca>)
The
QUIT
statement prints a restart question which may be answered affirmative, in which the game is reloaded and restarted, or negative in which case the adventure is terminated.
(Byron Montgomerie <byron@saturn.cs.mun.ca>)
SAVE
and
RESTORE
now prompts for a file to use so multiple save files can be used by the player.
(Luis Torres <let@reef.cis.ufl.edu>)
Multiplication and division can now be performed using the '*' and '/' operators respectively.
(Robert Yoke-Loong Foo <af685@freenet.carleton.ca>)
Version 2.4
Actors may now be containers (allows for making them carry things). The class indications in the syntax declarations have been enhanced to account for this also. You can now restrict parameters to all entities having the container property, only actors having it, or only objects having it (see
See Syntax Definitions
, and
See Containers
for details).
String comparison normally ignores the case of characters (the new operator `==' does exact matching) (see
See Binary operators
).
The statements to increase or decrease values are now called
INCREASE
and
DECREASE
(instead of
INCREMENT
and
DECREMENT
).
An optional description has been introduced on actor scripts, giving a possibility to create descriptions that are directly coupled to the activities of the actor (refer to
See Actors
).
The
QUIT
statement now does not print any scores. This has to be made explicitly. Also the identifier
SCORE
is now allowed in expressions, representing the current value of scores collected so far.
Containers are now listed in a more natural way, the old format of one item per line has been replaced by concatenating them into a natural sentence, like:
Version 2.8
A number of bug fixes have been performed in this release, mainly various problems with syntax declarations and named scripts.
A new statement has been introduced. The DEPENDING ON statement is an improved version of the common switch/case statement available in many other languages.
Two new expression types have also been introduced. The CONTAINS expressions performs sub-string containment tests, and the BETWEEN expression makes it easy to test if a value is within a specified, consecutive, range.
SCHEDULE and RANDOM now accepts general expressions instead of only literals.
Version 2.7
This version introduces the following radical improvements:
- objects no longer need be present to be used in a player command, the normal case is still that they are required to be present but this default behaviour can now be overridden using omnipotent indicator in the syntax clause.
- general attributes are now available, i.e. attributes that all objects, actors and actors have can be declared using the new DEFAULT ATTRIBUTES clause.
- objects and actors can now have multiple names giving the opportunity for synonyms for entities and not only for words.
Multiple minor improvements has also been made, e.g. free order of declaration of initial location and names, ',' can now be used as a conjunction in player input, a new RESTART statement, the MESSAGE clause now accepts general statements (not only strings) and named actor scripts.
Version 2.6
The 2.6 interpreter will run 2.5 games, but the 2.6 compiler can not generate 2.5 games. So upgrading to 2.6 will create games only playable with 2.6 interpreters, but you can keep old games and still play them.
User definition of run-time messages is now possible.
Removed the indefinite article from the default messages. Instead introduced the ARTICLE slot in objects which will be used (if present) before producing the MENTIONED message (which may be constructed automatically). If no article is declared a default is supplied ("a" if using english). This means that some tricks that have been used to somewhat remedy the article problem ('a' was always used!), don't work any more. Remove all 'a', 'an' etc. from the texts and names in the Alan source (usually in the MENTIONED slot and possibly in the HEADER for containers), and introduce the ARTICLE "an" declaration on objects that require it (those whose name start with a vowel sound). For objects that doesn't need an article define an empty ARTICLE clause.
It also means that their is now a new reserved word ARTICLE .
It is also now possible to define the ARTICLE , MENTIONED and DESCRIPTION on objects in any order.
Version 2.5
String quotes (") within strings are now allowed, if doubled (
"Charlie said ""Hello!"""
). The same goes for single quotes (') within quoted identifiers.
(Luis Torres <let@reef.cis.ufl.edu>)
Multiple default attribute sections simplifies using general include files as the default attributes can be distributed across the complete adventure source.
The new VISITS statement replaces the previous option with the same name, allowing setting of the visits variable during run-time.
The compiler now generates completely compatible adventure files, including multi-national character sets which are converted automatically to be presented correctly on any supported platform.
If the interpreter is renamed it will automatically load adventure files (
.acd
and
.dat
) with the same name.
(Jeff Harrison <harrison@mprgate.mpr.ca>)
The
QUIT
statement prints a restart question which may be answered affirmative, in which the game is reloaded and restarted, or negative in which case the adventure is terminated.
(Byron Montgomerie <byron@saturn.cs.mun.ca>)
SAVE
and
RESTORE
now prompts for a file to use so multiple save files can be used by the player.
(Luis Torres <let@reef.cis.ufl.edu>)
Multiplication and division can now be performed using the '*' and '/' operators respectively.
(Robert Yoke-Loong Foo <af685@freenet.carleton.ca>)
Version 2.4
Actors may now be containers (allows for making them carry things). The class indications in the syntax declarations have been enhanced to account for this also. You can now restrict parameters to all entities having the container property, only actors having it, or only objects having it (see See Syntax Definitions , and See Containers for details).
String comparison normally ignores the case of characters (the new operator `==' does exact matching) (see See Binary operators ).
The statements to increase or decrease values are now called INCREASE and DECREASE (instead of INCREMENT and DECREMENT ).
An optional description has been introduced on actor scripts, giving a possibility to create descriptions that are directly coupled to the activities of the actor (refer to See Actors ).
The QUIT statement now does not print any scores. This has to be made explicitly. Also the identifier SCORE is now allowed in expressions, representing the current value of scores collected so far.
Containers are now listed in a more natural way, the old format of one item per line has been replaced by concatenating them into a natural sentence, like: