Zork was implemented in a dialect of LISP called "MDL" aka "MIT Design Language" aka "Muddle" [1], which ZIL was based on.

Here's the original MDL source code, that people should study in school, which reads like an epic poem about heroic adventures such as Beowulf! [2]

I'd love for some academic egghead literary critic type to deconstruct [3] the Zork MDL source code, like Chaim Gingold deconstructed SimCity for their PhD thesis. [4]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDL_(programming_language)

[2] https://github.com/itafroma/zork-mdl

[3] http://www.fudco.com/chip/deconstr.html

[4] https://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/1806122688.html?FMT=ABS

http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/1806122688.html?FMT=AI

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DNAvqvKsuLGih8dWz9feEjea...