Xyzzy (computing)

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For other uses, see Xyzzy (disambiguation).Not to be confused with Zzyzx.

In computing, Xyzzy is sometimes used as a metasyntactic variable or as a video game cheat code. Xyzzy comes from the Colossal Cave Adventure computer game, where it is the first "magic string" that most players encounter (others include "plugh" and "plover"). [1]

Contents

Origin

Modern usage is primarily from one of the earliest computer games, Colossal Cave Adventure , in which the player explores a cave with many rooms, collecting the treasures found there. By typing "xyzzy" at the appropriate time, the player could move instantly between two otherwise distant points. As Colossal Cave Adventure was both one of the first adventure games and one of the first interactive fiction pieces, hundreds of later interactive fiction games included responses to the command "xyzzy" in tribute. [2]

The origin of the word "xyzzy" has been the subject of debate. According to Ron Hunsinger, the sequence of letters "XYZZY" has been used as a mnemonic to remember the process for computing cross products. [3] Will Crowther, the author of Colossal Cave Adventure, states that he was unaware of the mnemonic, and that he "made it up from whole cloth" when writing the game. [4]

Usage

Operating systems

Xyzzy has been implemented as an undocumented no-op command on several operating systems; in the 16-bit version of Data General's AOS, for example, it would typically respond "Nothing happens", just as the game did if the magic was invoked at the wrong spot or before a player had performed the action that enabled the word. The 32-bit version, AOS/VS, would respond "Twice as much happens". [5] On several computer systems from Sun Microsystems, the command "xyzzy" is used to enter the interactive shell of the U-Boot bootloader. [6] Early versions of Zenith Z-DOS (a re-branded variant of MS-DOS 1.25) had the command "xyzzy" which took a parameter of "on" or "off". Xyzzy by itself would print the status of the last "xyzzy on" or "xyzzy off" command.

When booting a Cr-48 from developer mode, when the screen displays the "sad laptop" image, typing "xyzzy" produces a joke Blue Screen of Death. [7] [8]

According to Brantley Coile, the Cisco PIX firewall had a xyzzy command that simply said "Nothing happens." He also put the command into the Coraid VSX to escape the CLI and get into the shell. It would announce "Foof! You are in a directory. There are files here." The new California Coraid management made the developers change the string to "/exportmode" and get rid of the "Foof!" message.[ citation needed ] Since regaining ownership of the Coraid software, the command is being returned to the system and now, in VSX release 8, the response is ">>Foof!<< You are in a debris room."

Application programs

Within the low-traffic Usenet newsgroup alt.xyzzy, the word is used for test messages, to which other readers (if there are any) customarily respond, "Nothing happens" as a note that the test message was successfully received. In the Internet Relay Chat client mIRC and Pidgin, entering the undocumented command "/xyzzy" will display the response "Nothing happens". [9] The string "xyzzy" is also used internally by mIRC as the hard-coded master encryption key that is used to decrypt over 20 sensitive strings from within the mirc.exe program file. [10]

A "deluxe chatting program" for DIGITAL's VAX/VMS written by David Bolen in 1987 and distributed via BITNET took the name xyzzy. It enabled users on the same system or on linked DECnet nodes to communicate via text in real time. There was a compatible program with the same name for IBM's VM/CMS. [11]

xYzZY is used as the default boundary marker by the Perl HTTP::Message module for multipart MIME messages, [12] and was used in Apple's AtEase for workgroups as the default administrator password in the 1990s.[ citation needed ]

A command-line example demonstrating IMAP connection to Gmail Gmail-imap-xyzzy.png
A command-line example demonstrating IMAP connection to Gmail

Gmail supports the command XYZZY when connected via IMAP before logging in. It takes no arguments, and responds with "OK Nothing happens."

The Hewlett-Packard 9836A computer with HPL 2.0 programming language has XYZZY built into the HPL language itself with the result of "I see no cave here." when used. The same message is returned from HP 3458A and HP 3245A instruments when queried with XYZZY via the HPIB bus.

In most versions of the Ingres dbms, selectxyzzy('') returns "Nothing happens." However, selectxyzzy('wim') returns "Nothing happens to Wim". The xyzzy() function has been part of the Ingres product since at least version 5 (late 1980s), but was removed from the main codeline sometime in the early 2000s. While talking to one of the members of the Ingres development team, Wim de Boer, at that time the secretary of the Ingres Users Group Nederland (IUGN), mentioned the removal of this Easter egg. This developer, who was a frequent speaker at the events organised by the IUGN, managed to put the function back into the product and—especially for Wim—added handling for the 'wim' value of the parameter.

Other computer games and media

The popular Minesweeper game under older versions of Microsoft Windows had a cheat mode triggered by entering the command xyzzy, then pressing the key sequence shift and then enter, which turned a single pixel in the top-left corner of the entire screen into a small black or white dot depending on whether or not the mouse pointer is over a mine. [13] This easter egg was present in all Windows versions through Windows XP Service Pack 3, but under Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 the pixel was visible only if the standard Explorer desktop was not running. The easter egg does not exist in versions after Windows XP SP3. [14]

In the game Zork , typing xyzzy and pressing enter produces the response: "A hollow voice says 'fool'". The command commonly produces a humorous response in other Infocom games and text adventures, leading to its usage in the title of the interactive fiction competition, the XYZZY Awards.[ citation needed ]

In the 1994 game Road Rash , if the user were to enter "xyzzy" in the main menu, [15] they could access several cheats such as nitrous refills, oil refills, etc.

In the 2022 game Return to Monkey Island the code is written on a sign at the entrance of a cave labyrinth. Ripping the sign off and using it in the cave, which leads to reading it, lets the protagonist, Guybrush Threepwood, return to the entrance of the cave. [16]

Related Research Articles

Interactive 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. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphical text adventure games, where the text is accompanied by graphics still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.

A metasyntactic variable is a specific word or set of words identified as a placeholder in computer science and specifically computer programming. These words are commonly found in source code and are intended to be modified or substituted before real-world usage. For example, foo and bar are used in over 330 Internet Engineering Task Force Requests for Comments, the documents which define foundational internet technologies like HTTP (web), TCP/IP, and email protocols.

Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released between 1993 and 1996. Around 1996, Nelson rewrote Inform from first principles to create version 6. Over the following decade, version 6 became reasonably stable and a popular language for writing interactive fiction. In 2006, Nelson released Inform 7, a completely new language based on principles of natural language and a new set of tools based around a book-publishing metaphor.

Text Adventure Development System (TADS) is a prototype-based domain-specific programming language and set of standard libraries for creating interactive fiction (IF) games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Easter egg (media)</span> Message, image or feature hidden within a work

An Easter egg is a message, image, or feature hidden in software, a video game, a film, or another — usually electronic — medium. The term used in this manner was coined around 1979 by Steve Wright, the then-Director of Software Development in the Atari Consumer Division, to describe a hidden message in the Atari video game Adventure, in reference to an Easter egg hunt.

<i>Colossal Cave Adventure</i> 1976 video game

Colossal Cave Adventure is a text-based adventure game, released in 1976 by developer Will Crowther for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was expanded upon in 1977 by Don Woods. In the game, the player explores a cave system rumored to be filled with treasure and gold. The game is composed of dozens of locations, and the player moves between these locations and interacts with objects in them by typing one- or two-word commands which are interpreted by the game's natural language input system. The program acts as a narrator, describing the player's location and the results of the player's attempted actions. It is the first well-known example of interactive fiction, as well as the first well-known adventure game, for which it was also the namesake.

The Konami Code, also commonly referred to as the Contra Code and sometimes the 30 Lives Code, is a cheat code that appears in many Konami video games, as well as some non-Konami games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Crowther (programmer)</span> Computer programmer and caver (born 1936)

William Crowther is an American computer programmer, caver, and rock climber. He is the co-creator of Colossal Cave Adventure from 1975 onward, a seminal computer game that influenced the first decade of video game design and inspired the text adventure game genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual IRC</span> Open source Internet Relay Chat client

Visual IRC (ViRC) is an open-source Internet Relay Chat client for the Windows operating system. Unlike many other IRC clients, nearly all of the functionality in ViRC is driven by the included IRC script, with the result that the program's behavior can be extended or changed without altering the source code.

<i>Adventure</i> (1980 video game) 1980 video game

Adventure is a video game developed by Warren Robinett for the Atari Video Computer System and released in 1980 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a square avatar whose quest is to explore an open-ended environment to find a magical chalice and return it to the golden castle. The game world is populated by roaming enemies: three dragons that can eat the avatar and a bat that randomly steals and moves items around the game world. Adventure introduced new elements to console games, including enemies that continue to move when offscreen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Robinett</span> Software designer

Joseph Warren Robinett Jr. is a designer of interactive computer graphics software, notable as the developer of the Atari 2600's Adventure and as a founder of The Learning Company, where he designed Rocky's Boots and Robot Odyssey. More recently he has worked on virtual reality projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Plotkin</span> Interactive fiction programmer and writer

Andrew Plotkin, also known as Zarf, is a central figure in the modern interactive fiction (IF) community. Having both written a number of award-winning games and developed a range of new file formats, interpreters, and other utilities for the design, production, and running of IF games, Plotkin is widely recognised for both his creative and his technical contributions to the homebrew IF scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magic word</span> Word or phrase said to cause magical events

Magic words are phrases used in fantasy fiction or by stage magicians. Frequently such words are presented as being part of a divine, adamic, or other secret or empowered language. Certain comic book heroes use magic words to activate their powers. Magic words are also used as Easter eggs or cheats in computer games, other software, and operating systems.

In video games, especially PC games, a console is a command line interface where the game's settings and variables can be edited while the game is running. Consoles also usually display a log of warnings, errors, and other messages produced during the program's execution. Typically it can be toggled on or off and appears over the normal game view.

Pyramid 2000 is an interactive fiction game. The game is an altered version of Colossal Cave that takes advantage of an Egyptian setting, re-theming some of the locations, objects, and puzzles. For instance, the "little bird" from Adventure is now a "bird statue" and the "clam" is a "sarcophagus."

Data General AOS was the name of a family of operating systems for Data General 16-bit Eclipse C, M, and S minicomputers, followed by AOS/VS and AOS/RT32 (1980) and later AOS/VS II (1988) for the 32-bit Eclipse MV line.

<i>Jigsaw</i> (video game) 1995 interactive fiction computer game

Jigsaw is an interactive fiction (IF) game, written by Graham Nelson in 1995.

<i>Adventureland</i> (video game) 1978 video game

Adventureland is a text adventure video game for microcomputers, released by Scott Adams in 1978. The game has no plot but simply involves searching for thirteen lost artifacts in a fantasy setting. Its success led Adams to form Adventure International, which went on to publish thirteen similar games in the Adventure series, each in different settings.

xyzzy or XYZZY may refer to:

References

  1. ↑ xyzzy in the Jargon File.
  2. ↑ David Welbourn. "Xyzzy responses". A web page giving responses to "xyzzy" in many games of interactive fiction.
  3. ↑ Rick Adams. "Everything you ever wanted to know about…the magic word XYZZY". The Colossal Cave Adventure page.
  4. ↑ Dennis G. Jerz (12 September 2007). "Somewhere Nearby is Colossal Cave: Examining Will Crowther's Original "Adventure" in Code and in Kentucky". Digital Humanities Quarterly. 001 (2).
  5. ↑ Rick Adams. "Everything you ever wanted to know about…the magic word XYZZY". The Colossal Cave Adventure page.
  6. ↑ "Sun Integrated Lights Out Manager 2.0 Supplement for the Sun Blade X6275 Server Module" (PDF). p. 17. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  7. ↑ Wells, Brad. "How I cracked the Cr-48 Easter Egg". Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  8. ↑ Wells, Brad. "Cr-48 Joke BSOD Screen". Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  9. ↑ "Pidgin source code repository". See gtkconv.c
  10. ↑ "mIRC - Encrypted internal strings".
  11. ↑ David Bolen (August 24, 1989). "VAX/VMS XYZZY Reference Card".
  12. ↑ Sean M. Burke (2002). "Perl and LWP", p.82. O'Reilly Media, Inc. ISBN   0-596-00178-9
  13. ↑ eeggs.com. "Windows 2000 Easter Eggs - Eeggs.com". Eeggs.com. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
  14. ↑ "Minesweeper Cheat codes".
  15. ↑ "Road Rash Cheats, Codes, and Secrets for PC - GameFAQs". gamefaqs.gamespot.com. Retrieved 2023-05-23.
  16. ↑ "Return To Monkey Island: How To Find The Secret". Screenrant.com. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
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