Z-machine coding problems, and what to automate
The Z-machine was perhaps the original fantasy console, and we can learn it by biting into some Advent of Code problems. Then we discuss what criteria not to use when deciding on what to automate.
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Advent of Code on the Z-machine
The Z-machine might be one of the first widely deployed bytecode virtual machines, reaching popularity in the early 1980s. It is also a kind of fantasy console. In this article, we explore solving three Advent of Code problems on it, to get more familiar with where its capabilities end and where the Inform 6 language takes over.
Full article (10–40 minute read): Advent of Code on the Z-machine
Flashcard of the week
When studying human factors, either for safety or job satisfaction, the human–computer interaction sometimes comes up. (Although probably not as often as it should.) That makes us ask questions such as
How do we usually decide what to automate?
This should probably be decided based on what best improves human performance, or total efficiency, or safety, or some other objective along those lines. That's usually not the criteria used. Usually, we decide what to automate
Based on what is easiest to automate.
We automate the routine steps that don't require any complicated movements or decisions, and then we stick the leftover tasks with a human. Sometimes this improves efficiency and safety, and sometimes it leaves the human with unreasonable workloads (sudden demands of extreme effort interspersed with almost nothing) and out of the loop, making it harder for the human to figure out what went wrong when the human needs to intervene.
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