Editing Z-machine (section)

==Interpreters==
[[File:Zork on Frotz on iPhone.jpg|right|thumb|An implementation of Frotz running on an [[iPhone]], playing the [[MIT]] version of ''[[Zork]]''.]][[Interpreter (computing)|Interpreters]] for Z-code files are available on a wide variety of platforms. The Inform website lists links to freely available interpreters for 15 desktop operating systems (including 8-bit microcomputers from the 1980s such as the [[Apple II]], [[TRS-80]], and {{nowrap|[[ZX Spectrum]]}}, and grouping "Unix" and "Windows" as one each), 10 mobile operating systems (including [[Palm OS]] and the [[Game Boy]]), and four interpreter platforms ([[Emacs]], Java, [[JavaScript]], and Scratch). According to Nelson, it is "possibly the most portable virtual machine ever created".<ref name="inform-interpreters">{{cite web |url=https://www.inform-fiction.org/zmachine/interpreters.html |first=Graham |last=Nelson |title=About Interpreters |work=Inform website |access-date=2009-11-07}}</ref>

Popular interpreters include Nitfol and Frotz. Nitfol makes use of the [[Glk (software)|Glk]] [[application programming interface|API]], and supports versions 1 through 8 of the Z-machine, including the version 6 graphical Z-machine. Save files are stored in the standard [[Quetzal file format|Quetzal]] save format. [[executable|Binary]] files are available for several different [[operating systems]], including the [[classic Mac OS]], [[Unix-like]] systems, [[DOS]], and [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]].<ref name="if-archive-infocom-interpreters-nitfol">{{cite web |url=https://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXinterpretersXnitfol.html |title=if-archive/infocom/interpreters/nitfol |access-date=2016-10-29}}</ref>

Frotz was written in [[C (programming language)|C]] by Stefan Jokisch in 1995 for DOS. Over time it was ported to other platforms, such as [[Unix-like]] systems,<ref name="frotz-history">{{cite web |url=https://gitlab.com/DavidGriffith/frotz/blob/master/README |title=Frotz README file on Gitlab |access-date=2019-02-19}}</ref> [[RISC OS]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zen22994.zen.co.uk/musus/frotz/|title=The RISC OS Frotz Home Page|date=1999-09-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015144705/http://www.zen22994.zen.co.uk/musus/frotz/|archive-date=2021-10-15}}</ref> and [[iOS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apps.apple.com/us/app/frotz/id287653015|title=Frotz on the App Store|website=App Store}}</ref> Sound effects and graphics were supported to varying degrees. By 2002, development stalled and the program was picked up by David Griffith. The code base was split between [[virtual machine]] and [[user interface]] portions in such a way that the virtual machine became independent from any user interface. This allowed more variety in porting Frotz. One of the stranger ports is also one of the simplest: an [[instant messaging]] [[Internet bot|bot]] is wrapped around a version of Frotz with the minimum [[Input/output|I/O]] functionality creating a bot with which one can play most Z-machine games using an instant messaging client.<ref name="frotz-dumb">{{cite web |url=https://gitlab.com/DavidGriffith/frotz/blob/master/DUMB |title=Frotz DUMB file on Gitlab |access-date=2019-02-19}}</ref>

Another popular client for [[macOS]] and other [[Unix-like]] systems is Zoom.<ref name="logicalshift-zoom">{{cite web |url=http://www.logicalshift.co.uk/unix/zoom/ |title=Logical Shift Zoom |access-date=2016-10-29}}</ref> It supports the same [[Quetzal file format|Quetzal]] save-format, but the packaging of the file-structure is different.