Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: philip@labtam.labtam.oz.au (Philip Stephens)
Subject: How many people use ADL?
Organization: Labtam Australia Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, Australia
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1993 08:37:19 GMT
Message-ID: <1993Apr5.083719.14057@labtam.labtam.oz.au>
Lines: 53

  First, some background:

  I few years ago I spent a spare week on writing a new version of the
'standard.adl' file.  For those of you unfamiliar with ADL, this file
provided a set of standard definitions and routines for implementing
obvious features such as dealing with multiple object lists, displaying
room descriptions and so on.  Unfortunately, it was rather rudimentary in
design, so I decided to rewrite it to provide a standard gaming environment
in the tradition of Infocom (with hooks for doing the unusual, of course!).
  Anyway, at the time I discovered there was immense interest in what I
unimaginatively called the 'newstandard.adl' file, but due to a mishap with
vi I overwrote the final version with a gargage file before I could mail it
to people :-)  I did retrieve a four-hour old backup, but by that stage I
train to catch, and the file got a chance to collect some dust.
  
  Now, the current situation:

  A week ago I decided to retrieve my archived file and have another look
at it.  Seeing how much my programming skills have improved since then, it
needs a little work. :-)  However, if there is still some interest in
seeing an updated version of my 'newstandard.adl', now's the time to speak
up.  It'll take a couple of weeks to polish it up, since I'm doing this in
my spare time, but I'd be quite happy to donate the file to any budding ADL
programmers, or to give it to someone to stick on a archive site somewhere
(can't do it myself, I don't have FTP access to the Internet).
  I don't know whether someone has beaten me to the post in the intervening
years since I wrote this thing, which is why I'm asking for expressions of
interest now.  The last time I asked, I got over 50 responses!  Heaven
forbid if ADL has actually got more popular since then...

  I'll post a feature list later, once I'm certain of the direction the
update will take, but for now I'll just point out some of the obvious
features:

  - Objects in multiple rooms.
  - Full automatic parsing of multiple object lists, including 'all' and
    'all but ...' forms.
  - Routines for displaying and searching through the contents of objects.
  - Standard object properties, and hooks for non-standard properties.
  - Full support for actors, including announcements of arrival and
    departure, and automatic filtering of speech when player is not in room.
  - Default actions for all standard sentences.
  - A single routine call in a verb preaction to direct semantic parsing.
  - and a whole lot more!

  So, if there is still a need for such a beast, please let me know and
I'll make it available once I've finished it.

-- 
| Philip Stephens, Systems Programmer. | %%%%  %     Labtam Australia Pty Ltd |
| Address:  43 Malcolm Road, Braeside, |   % % % %     "Applied Ingenuity"    |
|           Victoria, 3195, AUSTRALIA. |  %  % %  %  We make the fastest RISC |
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