Glk is a portable

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that des ...

(API) created by Andrew Plotkin for use by programs with a text interface; these programs mostly include

interactive fiction Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...

(IF) interpreters for Z-machine, TADS, Glulx, and Hugo games, and IF games written in more obscure file formats such as those used by Level 9 Computing and Magnetic Scrolls. The Glk API specification describes facilities for input, output, text formatting,

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

, and file I/O. Glk does not describe a

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization or emulator, emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide the functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve ...

. Glulx is a virtual machine designed to be implemented using the Glk functions, and Glulxe is an interpreter for Glulx. Interpreters for other virtual machines may use Glk while being unrelated to Glulx: for example, Nitfol is an interpreter for the Z-Machine that uses Glk. The Glk API has many

implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, execution of a plan, idea, scientific modelling, model, design, specification, Standardization, standard, algorithm, policy, or the Management, administration or management of a process or Goal ...

s, including GlkTerm, ScummVM's Glk, WindowsGlk, XGlk. Implementations are available on the following platforms: *

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...

http://eblong.com/zarf/glk/glkote.html : GlkOte: a JavaScript library for IF interfaces (retrieved 2012-05-03) *

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

* DOS *

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

** Pocket PC The existence of the Glk API has made possible the creation of "universal translator" IF interpreters, programs such as ''Gargoyle'' and ''Spatterlight'' which can run all popular IF formats and almost all of the more obscure ones. Such programs are very useful for newcomers to the medium who are unsure of which interpreter to choose, and to experienced players who may possess games in a variety of formats.

References

External links

GLK API specification

Programming tools for Windows Unix software {{Unix-stub