Re: Text Adventure Data Structures

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Paul Schlyter replied:

>In article <20040711103216.25561.00001695@mb-m29.aol.com>,
>Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote:
>> Paul Schlyter wrote:
>> 
>>> In article <ccpjvn$8uh$4@chessie.cirr.com>,
>>> Paul Allen Panks  <panks@sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Since the mid-1970s, attempts have been made to write
>>>> text adventures using a variety of methods. Zork (to
>>>> use an early example) was originally written at M.I.T.
>>>> on a PDP series mainframe
>>>
>>> Weren't the PDP's minicomputers rather than mainframes?
>>>
>>> By the terminology of that time, a mainframe required a
>>> large room, while a minicomputer could fit in a closet.
>>> Of course the microcomputer hadn't appeared yet then.
>>>
>>> Naturally, that terminology doesn't work anymore, since
>>> even the supercomputers of today use microprocessors
>>> and are physically much smaller than the "dinosaurs"
>>> of those days.
>> 
>> While machines like the PDP-8 were relatively compact
>> machines, the PDP-1 and PDP-6 were distinctly bigger
>> than a closet.  While much smaller than, say, an IBM 7094,
>> they were on the size borderline between minicomputers and
>> "mainframes".
>> 
>> Of course, their _culture_ was pure minicomputer.
>> 
>> -michael
>> 
>> Check out parallel computing for 8-bit Apples on my
>> Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
>
>Actually, the PDP10 on which Zork (or Dungeon as it was first called)
>was about as large as five refrigerators.... and that did not include
>the disks!

Exactly.

I didn't remember that Dungeon was developed on the PDP-10
(or DEC 10), but the 10 is a fine example of a machine with
minicomputer roots and mainframe capabilities.  It was the
popularity of the 10 that gave DEC the momentum to creae
the VAX, another popular "mini-mainframe" class machine.

-michael

Check out parallel computing for 8-bit Apples on my
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/