Glulx spec 3.1.1, Glulxe 0.4.4

[Andrew Plotkin]

I have posted an updated Glulx specification to my site
(http://eblong.com/zarf/glulx/index.html), and updated Glulxe
interpreter source to go with it.

The new feature, as I described a few weeks ago, is an acceleration
module that greatly speeds up certain Inform 6 functions. David
Kinder's tests with Alabaster and Nightfall (CPU-intensive I7 games)
indicates that they run about three times as fast in the new system.

(David has a matching version of Git ready; it *also* runs three times
as fast as before, which is awfully speedy.)

Note that this acceleration only works for games that support it. That
is, the game has to be compiled with a tweak in the I6 compiler and
the I6 library. You will not see any difference for existing game
files. Compiler patches and library extensions will be out Real Soon
Now.

Thanks to David for doing the heavy lifting on the acceleration
implementation. Also Philip Chimento for reminding me to put a
CC license on the spec document. :)

--Z

--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*

[aar...@gmail.com]

Oh, *excellent!* Awesome work, Andrew and David. :)

--Aaron

[David Kinder]

There's now a build of Windows Glulxe up at the Archive using Andrew's new
Glulxe 0.4.4:
http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXprogrammingXglulxXinterpretersXglulxe.html

As yet there's no easy way to compile a game that uses its new acceleration
capabilities, but we're getting there :)

David