[Inform](https://ganelson.github.io/inform-website/) is a *programming language* for creating interactive fiction, using natural language syntax. Using natural language and drawing on ideas from linguistics and from literate programming. Compiles to Glulx or Z-Code, bytecodes specifically used for interactive fiction.
# Notability
Inform has a long history, but isn't afraid of heavily revising itself either. Has been used for probably thousands of free little text adventure and choose your own adventure games.
Some have garnered critical and academic acclaim and analysis.
Inform is powerful enough to be used for things other than interactive fiction.
# History
First created in 1993, several major revisions have been released with the most recent being version 7 which was a complete reimagining of the language in 2006.
Inform 7 was open sourced in 2022.
[Inform 6](https://github.com/DavidKinder/Inform6), which is a very different language from 7, is still being maintained by the community.
# Comparison
Unlike most of the other interactive fiction languages which tend to be story and markup first in the literate programming tradition, Inform is a programming language first and foremost. Just one that happens to be specifically geared towards making text adventure games.
Inform 6 looks pretty much like a standard symbol-heavy C-like programming language.
```inform6
[ Main i;
for (i = 1: i <= 100: i++) {
if (i % 3 == 0)
print "Fizz";
if (i % 5 == 0)
print "Buzz";
if (i % 3 ~= 0 && i % 5 ~= 0)
print i;
print "^";
}
];
```
Inform 7 has a more verbose keyword-heavy syntax like a fourth-generation programming language (such as SQL) plus some syntactic similarities to Python.
```inform7
Home is a room.
When play begins:
repeat with N running from 1 to 100:
let printed be false;
if the remainder after dividing N by 3 is 0:
say "Fizz";
now printed is true;
if the remainder after dividing N by 5 is 0:
say "Buzz";
now printed is true;
if printed is false, say N;
say ".";
end the story.
```
# See Also
```cardlink
url: https://emshort.blog/
title: "Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling"
description: "Narrative in games and new media"
host: emshort.blog
favicon: https://s0.wp.com/i/favicon.ico
image: https://s0.wp.com/i/blank.jpg
```
```cardlink
url: https://www.ifwiki.org/Main_Page
title: "IFWiki"
host: www.ifwiki.org
```
Other interactive fiction languages: [[Twine]], [[Ink (programming language)]], [[Bitsy]]