The title says it all really. I’m looking to use Jim Aikin’s work to refresh my memory on I7 but I’m aware things march on. Is this document still valid enough to be effective. They both start with a 6 which is encouraging but have moved from L to M?
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6M62 is mostly a maintenance/bugfix release. You can take a look at the change log for the complete list. I haven’t read Jim’s document but I suspect it’s still plenty valid.
Perhaps the most notable (unintentional) change is that foreign language support is fundamentally broken in 6M62. As long as you stick to English for your games, I don’t foresee any issues, though.
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Short answer: there is little in 6M62 that’s backwards-incompatible with 6L38 and Jim’s Inform 7 Handbook remains highly relevant and useful. I read it a few months ago and my recollection is that a couple of things about the current state of available extensions felt (inevitably) dated, but its presentation of the language was sound.
Longer answer: there’s a very detailed Inform 7 Changelog.
6G60 → 6L02 was a big switch with a bunch of backwards-incompatible changes.
6L02 → 6L38 was mostly about bugfixes, with some minor changes.
6L38 → 6M62:
[Edited: as @Natrium729 corrects below, the following is wrong; that was a 6G60->6L02 change. So the minor new features in the language (for 6M62) are indeed minor.)]
Beyond Adrian’s note regarding translation support, the most significant thing was the introduction of “responses”, making it much, much easier to modify the output from the Standard Rules and other extensions (provided the extension author implemented the output as responses, as up-to-date extensions pretty universally do).
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Actually, responses were introduced in 6L02, so Jim Aikin’s Handbook should have it covered already (I guess ; I haven’t read it).
I believe it’s mostly irrelevant regarding changes that are made between versions. Unless I’m mistaken, it’s a build “number” which increases incrementally (say, 6L99 is followed by 6M01), so what counts is the distance between the two. (There are gaps between releases because some builds remain private during the development.)
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Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. I was hopeful that this was the case. I find it’s the small but far-reaching inconsistencies that slow me down the most. I’ll go ahead with Jim’s document.
suggestion: if are found incompatibilities/issues when using Aikin’s Handbook, why not collate them in an addendum, like the one done by Zarf for the DM4 ?
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
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And do let me know if there are problems. I haven’t used I7 for a few years now, but I could probably be persuaded to issue a revised version if the issues are significant. Since I seldom show up on this forum, the email address at the end of the Foreword in the Handbook is the best way to reach me.
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Thanks Jim. I’m working my way through it now.
I appreciate the work you put into it.
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I made a Google Doc copy of the Inform 7 Handbook and added some comments indicating some things that could use updating… dead links, references to the Public Library and bug tracker, and some extension stuff.
Anyone can message me with a gmail account (or an email address you’ve associated with a Google account) and I’ll grant commenting access.
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