xref: /csrg-svn/contrib/dungeon/History (revision 35974)
1*35974Sbostic	History of the Unix f77 Implementation of Dungeon
2*35974Sbostic	=================================================
3*35974Sbostic
4*35974SbosticThis version of dungeon has been modified from the original source
5*35974Sbosticso that it will compile and execute on Unix[TM] Systems using the
6*35974Sbosticf77 FORTRAN Compiler.  The original was written in DEC FORTRAN,
7*35974Sbostictranslated from MDL.  See the file "dungeon.doc" for the complete
8*35974Sbosticoriginal documentation.  See the file "PDP.doc" for notes on the
9*35974SbosticUnix/pdp implementation.
10*35974Sbostic
11*35974SbosticI. From the original documentation...
12*35974Sbostic
13*35974SbosticTo:	Dungeon Players
14*35974SbosticFrom:	"The Translator"
15*35974SbosticSubj:	Game Information
16*35974SbosticDate:	8-OCT-80
17*35974Sbostic
18*35974Sbostic
19*35974SbosticThis is the first (and last) source release of the PDP-11 version of
20*35974SbosticDungeon.
21*35974Sbostic
22*35974SbosticPlease note that Dungeon has been superceded by the game ZORK(tm).
23*35974SbosticThe following is an extract from the new product announcement for
24*35974SbosticZORK in the September, 1980 issue of the RT-11 SIG newsletter:
25*35974Sbostic
26*35974Sbostic  "'ZORK:  The Great Underground Empire - Part I' ...was developed
27*35974Sbostic   by the original authors based on their ZORK (Dungeon) game for
28*35974Sbostic   the PDP-10.  It features a greatly improved parser;  command
29*35974Sbostic   input and transcript output files;  SAVEs to any device and
30*35974Sbostic   file name;  and adaptation to different terminal types,
31*35974Sbostic   including a status line on VT100s.  Note:  this is not the
32*35974Sbostic   FORTRAN version that has been available through DECUS.  This
33*35974Sbostic   version has been completely rewritten to run efficiently on
34*35974Sbostic   small machines - up to 10 times as fast as the DECUS version.
35*35974Sbostic
36*35974Sbostic   ...ZORK runs under RT-ll, HT-ll, or RSTS/E and requires as
37*35974Sbostic   little as 20K words of memory and a single floppy disk drive.
38*35974Sbostic   The game package, consisting of an RX01-format diskette and
39*35974Sbostic   an instruction booklet, is available from Infocom, Inc.,
40*35974Sbostic   P.O. Box 120, Kendall Station, Cambridge, Ma. 02142."
41*35974Sbostic
42*35974SbosticZORK(tm) is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.  It is available for several
43*35974Sbosticpopular personal computers as well as for the PDP-ll.
44*35974Sbostic
45*35974Sbostic
46*35974SbosticSUMMARY
47*35974Sbostic-------
48*35974Sbostic
49*35974Sbostic		    Welcome to Dungeon!
50*35974Sbostic
51*35974Sbostic   Dungeon is a game of adventure, danger, and low cunning.  In it
52*35974Sbosticyou will explore some of the most amazing territory ever seen by mortal
53*35974Sbosticman.  Hardened adventurers have run screaming from the terrors contained
54*35974Sbosticwithin.
55*35974Sbostic
56*35974Sbostic   In Dungeon, the intrepid explorer delves into the forgotten secrets
57*35974Sbosticof a lost labyrinth deep in the bowels of the earth, searching for
58*35974Sbosticvast treasures long hidden from prying eyes, treasures guarded by
59*35974Sbosticfearsome monsters and diabolical traps!
60*35974Sbostic
61*35974Sbostic   No DECsystem should be without one!
62*35974Sbostic
63*35974Sbostic   Dungeon was created at the Programming Technology Division of the MIT
64*35974SbosticLaboratory for Computer Science by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce
65*35974SbosticDaniels, and Dave Lebling.  It was inspired by the Adventure game of
66*35974SbosticCrowther and Woods, and the Dungeons and Dragons game of Gygax
67*35974Sbosticand Arneson.  The original version was written in MDL (alias MUDDLE).
68*35974SbosticThe current version was translated from MDL into FORTRAN IV by
69*35974Sbostica somewhat paranoid DEC engineer who prefers to remain anonymous.
70*35974Sbostic
71*35974Sbostic   On-line information may be obtained with the commands HELP and INFO.
72*35974Sbostic
73*35974SbosticII. DEC FORTRAN to f77 Conversion (17-nov-81)
74*35974Sbostic
75*35974SbosticThe conversion from DEC FORTRAN to Unix f77 was done by Randy Dietrich,
76*35974SbosticLynn Cochran and Sig Peterson.  Much hacking was done to get it to fit
77*35974Sbosticin the limited address space of a PDP-11/44 (split I/D).  See the
78*35974Sbosticfile "PDP.doc" for all the gory details.  Suffice it to say that by
79*35974Sbosticleaving out the debugging package and not linking in the f77 i/o
80*35974Sbosticlibrary they managed to get it to run.
81*35974Sbostic
82*35974SbosticIII. PDP to VAX (dec-85)
83*35974Sbostic
84*35974SbosticBased on the work of Randy, Lynn and Sig, Bill Randle folded in the
85*35974Sbosticfull save/restore functions and the game debugging package (gdt) into
86*35974Sbosticthe pdp version to create a Vax/Unix version.  This version also uses
87*35974Sbosticf77 i/o, thus eliminating the extra speak and listen processes needed
88*35974Sbosticon the pdp.
89*35974Sbostic
90*35974SbosticIV. Cleanup I (11-dec-86)
91*35974Sbostic
92*35974SbosticJohn Gilmore (hoptoad!gnu) cleaned up the source files by moving
93*35974Sbosticmost of the common declarations into include files and added
94*35974Sbosticcomments from the original (FORTRAN or MDL?) source.  His efforts
95*35974Sbosticare greatly appreciated.
96*35974Sbostic
97*35974SbosticV. Cleanup II (9-feb-87)
98*35974Sbostic
99*35974SbosticBill Randle (billr@tekred.tek.com) added the pdp dependencies back
100*35974Sbosticinto the Vax source files with #ifdefs in order to have just one
101*35974Sbosticset of sources.  Previously, there were two sets of source: one for
102*35974Sbosticthe pdp and one for the Vax.  In addition, a shell escape of the
103*35974Sbosticform !cmd was added and the wizard can enter the gdt without having
104*35974Sbosticto recompile the source.  Finally, a man page was generated, based
105*35974Sbosticon the dungeon.doc file.
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