That’s a great overview of Inform 7. In my experience, the natural language form makes Inform very, very seductive. Writing with it is – initially at least – tremendous fun. You type some sentences. It reads well. You press a button. And then you have a game! As soon as I see some Inform 7 code, I feel like programming in Inform 7.
There is a stage, of course, where Inform 7 programming can be just as difficult as frustrating as using any other language; when you want to do things that are either complicated in themselves or complicated because they go against the underlying assumptions of the world model or the parser, you’ll still have to figure it all out. And the natural language character of Inform 7 can make it harder to remember the correct syntax, leaving you typing things that seem good, but are just slightly off.
Plus, if you haven’t used the language for a while, can you remember the difference between following a rule and abiding by a rule? (Let alone: anonymously abiding by a rule?) What is the exact sequence of the Before, After, Check, Instead, Carry out and Report rulebooks? Which of those stop the entire sequence if a rule in them succeeds? That’s stuff I always have to look up.
But, and then we return to the positives, even when returning to a project after ten years, you are immediately able to read the code and understand it. No doubt obfuscated Inform 7 code is possible, but average Inform 7 code is eminently readable. And therefore fun to delve into again!
I’m not monogamous. I’ve used other systems – Inform 6, Ink, ChoiceScript – and might use yet others. But Inform 7 is my true love, and I’ll always come back to her.