Absolutely. When I was learning PunyInform I downloaded all the source code for the I6 games (which for any IF Archive people lurking: could you please separate the source code for I6 and I7 games?) and I would do multi-file searches to figure out how to do stuff.
I see crazy stuff done in the BB awards and elsewhere on this board, and the eternal student in me wants to understand all of it because it’s just so incredibly cool.
I’ve also read large chunks of the manual (and consult it repeatedly). Another amazing resource is @mathbrush’s Let's Play/Read: Inform 7 manuals (Done for now). I’d love to see something similar but for the Recipe Book (and I’ve even started penning that, although I don’t feel qualified at all to!).
(Writing with Inform is honestly a great resource, although over and over it will just give you a single sentence about some topic or concept that should really have its own paragraph.)
I think an “advanced” book on Inform 7 would be welcome that could level game programmers up, something to fill the gaps between the current learning materials available. Anyway, bit of a digression.