Inform 7
Shares rank 71 of 163 programming languages by recommenders
Free, English-like language for writing interactive fiction, praised for its charming syntax and strong IDE. Common caveat: its syntax can be awkward and hard to learn for programmers.
Free, English-like language for writing interactive fiction, praised for its charming syntax and strong IDE. Common caveat: its syntax can be awkward and hard to learn for programmers.
26 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 65%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
English-like syntax generating real code
“We've got inform7 with an English like language generating complex inform6 OOP optimized code since a few decades”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “LLMs are making formal software verification feasible at a much larger scale” “seems to do a pretty elegant job or marrying up natural language and programming together in a unique way”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “The foolishness of "natural language programming" (1978)” “With Inform7 you just write clauses in English, the interpreter will write IF6 code for you”
Comment from 2 May 2026 in “Ti-84 Evo” Charming, distinctive syntax
“I've always found Inform 7's Mathematics Textbook English syntax quite charming”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “Advent of Code on the Z-Machine” “Personally I really enjoy the syntax of Inform 7”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Adventure Game Studio: OSS software for creating adventure games”
Other programming languages people recommend
The four most recommended other programming languages, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 163 programming languages, rankedWhat people said
32 of the 33 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“there is no market for the kind of games that you create with Inform7”
“I was never sure if something was written right or not because of how free the syntax was.”
“it takes the same discipline to write Inform 7 that it takes to write ordinary programs”
“creating an adventure it's a breeze, even for Elementary students”
“seems to do a pretty elegant job or marrying up natural language and programming together in a unique way”
“We've got inform7 with an English like language generating complex inform6 OOP optimized code since a few decades”
“far superior to any LLM crap”
“Some people swear by it, but people who come from programming backgrounds sometimes find it hard to learn.”
“I only got a few connected rooms and basic objects”
“it's a read-only language”
“it's definitely feasible and not something you can do with a regular programming language easily”
“you have to memorize a ton of specific English phrase templates”
“This, more than anything else I'd ever read about Inform, really makes me want to give it a try.”
“Inform 7 awkwardly pretends to be regular English”
“I liked the experience and this idea that the nature of the language will affect how you interact with it”
“for the intended users that's excellent”
“not because it's a good language, but because of the way programmers react when you present them a page of Inform 7 code”
“Inform 7 of course has modelling basics for a player eating food, drinking potions, etc.”
“With Inform7 you just write clauses in English, the interpreter will write IF6 code for you”
“the actual Inform Zork engine is pretty terrible”
“it's very cool that you can do things like this”
“games will be much lighter than Inform7”
“I think Inform 7 is pretty cool. I suggest checking in to that as well.”
“Even natural language programming efforts like Inform 7 fail the test”
“Inform 7 is actually kind of fun to write once you get the hang of it.”
“Personally I really enjoy the syntax of Inform 7”
“has annoying syntax but an amazing IDE”
“no LLM will be close to a designed game from a programmer, be in Inform6 or Inform7”
“I want my code to look more like code, and less like an LLM prompt.”
“I have an aversion to Inform 7.”
“Inform 7 can be really awkward for traditional programming constructs”
“I've always found Inform 7's Mathematics Textbook English syntax quite charming”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.