<[Stephen]> Recommended reading: [http://www.brasslantern.org/writers/iftheory/i7observations.html Some Observations on Using Inform 7] by Emily Short It's upsetting to hear that the GUI for Linux is so lackluster. The GUI is practically the other half of the programming language. <[Brennen]> The Linux interface is, well, actually not a GUI at all. It's an old-school "here's a list of choices, type a letter, hit enter" menu system which loses track of what's going on about two thirds of the time and can't cope with relative path names. Hence my feeling that I could probably do [InteractiveFiction|better in an afternoon]... I'm definitely interested in the GUI; if nothing else I may have to reboot into my decaying Windows 98 installation and see if I can get that version running. I do wonder what a decent, portable *nix interface would take. Could it be done with console level tools, do you think? Emacs modes or vim customization tied to some Perl? Not that I'm taking this on any time soon. ... An example from the EmilyShort piece: :Colour is a kind of value. The colours are red, blue and green. A block is a kind of thing. A block has a colour. A block is usually blue. Before printing the name of a block: say "[colour] ". Before printing the plural name of a block: say "[colour] ". Understand the colour property as describing a block. Um, wow. <[Brennen]> Much later: [http://daringfireball.net/2005/09/englishlikeness_monster The English-Likeness Monster].