InfocomInfocom, Inc. was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called Cornerstone. Infocom was founded on June 22, 1979, by staff and students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and lasted as an independent company until 1986, when it was bought by Activision.Tim Anderson (programmer)Tim Anderson is an American computer programmer best known for co-creating the adventure gameZork, one of the first works of interactive fiction and an early descendant of ADVENT (also known as Colossal Cave Adventure). CareerWhile attending MIT, Anderson got his start in game development by developing the game Trivia (1976) alongside future collaborator Marc Blank for the DECPDP-10, the school's mainframe, playable over ARPANET.
Marc BlankMarc Blank is an American game developer and software engineer. He is best known as part of the team that created one of the first commercially successful text adventurecomputer games, Zork. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. CareerBlank first encountered Don Woods and Will Crowther's Adventure game while he was studying at MIT in the mid-1970s, where the game was played on mainframe computers.
Dave LeblingPeter David Lebling (born October 30, 1949) is an American interactive fictiongame designer (implementor) and programmer who has worked at various companies, including Infocom and Avid. Life and careerHe was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Maryland, and attended MIT, where he obtained a degree in political science before becoming a member of its Laboratory for Computer Science.
Personal computerA personal computer (PC), or simply computer, is a computer designed for personal use. It is typically used for tasks such as word processing, web browsing, email, file management, spreadsheets, and video calling. Personal computers are meant to be operated directly by an end user, instead of a computer expert, administrator, company or technician.
Bruce DanielsBruce Daniels is an American hydroclimatologist, business executive and computer programmer. He is known in Silicon Valley as one of the pioneers of the personal computer and user-friendly interfaces. Daniels earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz after receiving an Sc.B. and S.M. in computer science from MIT. He specializes in water-related impacts of climate change, especially in the American West.
Mainframe computerA mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe, maxicomputer, or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and large-scale transaction processing.
Interactive fictionInteractive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of interactive narratives or interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game.
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. William Barton Rogers founded MIT to accelerate American industrialization through scientific knowledge. Initially funded by a federal land grant, the institute adopted a German polytechnic model emphasizing laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering, and moved from Boston's Back Bay to its current campus in Cambridge in 1916.Natural language processingProcessing of natural language by a computer Natural language processing (NLP) is the processing of natural language information by a computer. NLP is a subfield of computer science and is closely associated with artificial intelligence. NLP is also related to information retrieval, knowledge representation, computational linguistics, and linguistics more broadly.
PDP-10Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family manufactured from 1966, delivered from December 1967, and discontinued in 1983. 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, especially as the TOPS-10 operating system became widely used. The PDP-10's architecture is almost identical to that of DEC's earlier PDP-6, sharing the same 36-bitword length and slightly extending the instruction set.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.