Should I wait for the update?

I’m planning to teach myself I7. Should I wait for the update or have a go at the existing version?

Unless there’s some late-breaking news of which I’m unaware, it’s not known how much longer you’ll have to wait for the next release. It could be imminent, or it could just as easily be months in the future. The present version has plenty of features to keep you busy, and can very handily produce complete games. So I’d say there’s no reason to wait. Go for it!

I also say go ahead and start now. The next version is definitely getting some important features from what has been said, but much of the code itself will probably remain the same as it is now.

I’d lay odds that the fundamentals - stuff like building rooms and connections, making and describing objects, the core stuff you’ll be focusing on at first - will be much the same. And if you get started now you’ll have a stronger foundation to appreciate whatever improvements they’ve come up with!

Plus it’s just fun to learn. Like actually for-real fun :slight_smile:

At first!

If you were going to start on a large, ambitious project, I’d consider holding off, but if you’re just learning, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble. The stuff that’s changing is going to have some big effects on things like customised library messages, but the core stuff isn’t going to change.

Go ahead!

Pretty much all of what you learn of the Inform 7 language from the current build is sure to be relevant to the coming one.

Even if you were planning a really large and ambitious game, you might as well begin coding it in the current version of Inform. If the new build is released just weeks after, you could make the adjustments to the new features without too much trouble. If the new build is not released until you’re almost finished with your game, you’d just continue using the same version of Inform that you started out with.

As far as I know, the only kinds of Inform projects that will be quite obsolete with the new build are translations and extensions for customizing the standard library messages.