Inform

Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released between 1993 and 1996. Around 1996, Nelson rewrote Inform from first principles to create version 6 (or Inform 6). Over the following decade, version 6 became reasonably stable and a popular language for writing interactive fiction. In 2006, Nelson released Inform 7 (briefly known as Natural Inform), a completely new language based on principles of natural language and a new set of tools based around a book-publishing metaphor.

Z-Machine and Glulx

All versions of Inform generate files in Z-code (also called story files) from source code. These files can then be run by any Z-code interpreter – that is, by any program which properly implements the Z-code virtual machine (or Z-machine) specification. The Z-machine was originally developed by Infocom in 1979 for their interactive fiction titles. Because there is at least one such interpreter for nearly every major and minor platform, this means that the same Z-code file can be run on a multitude of platforms with no alterations.

Inform (disambiguation)

Inform may refer to:

Inform, Inc.

Inform, Inc. is a non-profit environmental organization based in New York City. Founded in 1973, Inform has published more than 100 reports covering chemical hazard prevention, solid waste prevention, extended producer responsibility, and sustainable transportation. Inform uses media, such as video, to educate the public about the environmental effects of various consumer products.

History

Inform was founded in 1973 by Joanna Underwood in order to document the environmental impact of business practices and identify practical options for change. Inform's research has been cited as providing "the intellectual underpinning for other advocacy groups".

During 1976-1978, Inform investigated the land sales industry. The investigation led to proposed consumer amendments in the Federal Interstate Land Sales Reform Act.

In 1986, recommendations made by David Sarokin and Warren Muir, researchers at Inform, resulted in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's creation of the Toxics Release Inventory.

Packed!

Packed! is the fifth album by rock group The Pretenders, released in 1990. For this album, the only real member of the group is Chrissie Hynde; no other person is pictured anywhere within the album package, and a rotating cast of session musicians (rather than a set band) is used to back Hynde throughout, essentially making this a de-facto solo album by Hynde, only using the Pretenders name to satisfy contractual obligations. However, drummer Blair Cunningham plays on all tracks, though he is not credited as part of the band.

Track listing

All songs by Chrissie Hynde, except as noted.

Personnel

Additional personnel

Data structure alignment

Data structure alignment is the way data is arranged and accessed in computer memory. It consists of two separate but related issues: data alignment and data structure padding. When a modern computer reads from or writes to a memory address, it will do this in word sized chunks (e.g. 4 byte chunks on a 32-bit system) or larger. Data alignment means putting the data at a memory address equal to some multiple of the word size, which increases the system's performance due to the way the CPU handles memory. To align the data, it may be necessary to insert some meaningless bytes between the end of the last data structure and the start of the next, which is data structure padding.

For example, when the computer's word size is 4 bytes (a byte means 8 bits on most machines, but could be different on some systems), the data to be read should be at a memory address which is some multiple of 4. When this is not the case, e.g. the data starts at address 14 instead of 16, then the computer has to read two or more 4 byte chunks and do some calculation before the requested data has been read, or it may generate an alignment fault. Even though the previous data structure end is at address 13, the next data structure should start at address 16. Two padding bytes are inserted between the two data structures at addresses 14 and 15 to align the next data structure at address 16.