inform-evolution

Inform is a mature and widely used programming language, and changes to its design which are visible to users, or implementation changes on any large scale, have since 30 July 2022 been proposed and tracked in this repository. The core repository for the language itself is ganelson/inform.

In progress

Proposal	Began	Comments
(IE-0029) Basic IO	20 July 2023	PR#29
(IE-0015) World model enforcement	16 January 2023	PR#15

Implemented and waiting to be released

Proposal	Began	Comments
(IE-0039) Roomless source texts	21 May 2024	PR#39
(IE-0038) Division of time	28 April 2024	PR#38
(IE-0037) Relative kinds	28 April 2024	PR#37
(IE-0036) Extension licencing	4 April 2024	PR#36
(IE-0035) Ambiguously plural property	18 March 2024	PR#35
(IE-0033) Kit-set properties	20 September 2023	PR#33
(IE-0032) Run-time problem reform	26 August 2023	PR#32
(IE-0031) BANISH debugging command	9 August 2023	PR#31
(IE-0030) Extension examples and testing	7 August 2023	PR#30
(IE-0028) Extension documentation revisited	19 July 2023	PR#28
(IE-0027) Sorting with custom comparison phrases	20 July 2023	PR#27
(IE-0026) Units and number bases	13 July 2023	PR#26
(IE-0025) Kit-enumerated kinds	24 June 2023	PR#25
(IE-0024) Reorganisation of standard kits	11 June 2023	PR#24
(IE-0023) Retaining text/regexp match start/end locations	11 June 2023	PR#23
(IE-0022) Tidying the startup sequence	11 June 2023	PR#22
(IE-0021) No automatic plural synonyms use option	7 June 2023	PR#21
(IE-0019) Unicode command parser	15 May 2023	PR#19
(IE-0018) Use options and kit configuration	2 May 2023	PR#18
(IE-0017) Apps and extensions	15 April 2023	PR#17
(IE-0016) Language extensions reform	5 February 2023	PR#16
(IE-0014) Inter names for rulebooks	23 October 2022	PR#14
(IE-0013) Annotations for kit linking	10 October 2022	PR#13
(IE-0010) Concepts	21 July 2022	PR#10
(IE-0009) Dialogue sections	21 July 2022	PR#9
(IE-0006) New annotations for I6 syntax	16 June 2022	PR#6
(IE-0005) Removing translates into Unicode	5 June 2022	PR#5
(IE-0003) Dividing source text into multiple files	1 May 2022	PR#3
(IE-0002) Automatic gitignores for Inform projects	1 May 2022	PR#2
(IE-0001) Directory format for extensions with resources	1 May 2022	PR#1

Still drafting or not yet implemented

Proposal	Began	Comments
(IE-0011) New data structures (still drafting: see pull request)	--	PR#11
(IE-0008) Faster memory allocation	13 July 2022	PR#8
(IE-0007) Double-precision real numbers	3 July 2022	PR#7
(IE-0004) Access to data files embedded in blorbs	5 May 2022	PR#4

Withdrawn or evolved

Proposal	Began	Comments
(IE-0012) Glk foundations	23 Sept 2022	This evolved into (IE-0029) Basic IO

Notes

• Proposals are numbered IE-0001, IE-0002, ... in order of creation. They will not always be implemented in numerical order.
• The baseline design is Inform version 10.1.0.
• Any change to the Inform design visible to users (and causing a minor or major version number bump) should be related to a proposal here.
• For now, proposals are made by the Inform team.
• Details are likely to change before release, and proposals listed above as "waiting to be released" are only mostly final. In particular, comments on them remain open.

For now, we ask users not to open their own pull requests against this repository, but users are very welcome to contribute comments in the PR associated with each proposal for exactly that purpose. For example, PR#1 exists for comments on IE-0001. For more free-flowing discussion about future possibilities, the Inform area of the intfiction.org forum would be the place.