language interpreters/ interpreted languages weaknesses?

[Greg Ewing]

Jean Jordaan wrote:
> 
> Z-code! That's the bytecode of the Infocom text adventure engine. Infocom
> wrote Z-code engines for all their target machines, and released one version
> of the bytecode of the games for all of them. It's been implemented as Inform
> by Graham Nelson, and ported all over the place. Does this qualify :?

It doesn't qualify for the "published" part. Infocom never publicised
the
specification of the Z-machine; it was reverse-engineered later by I.F.
enthusiasts.

The Amsterdam Compiler Kit uses an abstract machine code called EM with
a
published specification, although it's intended more as an intermediate
form
between the front and back ends of a compiler than as a medium for
distributing
programs.

Greg