Robert W. Lafore (born March 11, 1938) is a computer programmer, systems analyst and entrepreneur. He coined the term "interactive fiction",[1] and was an early software developer in this field.[2]
Lafore worked as a systems analyst for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In the early days of microcomputing, he wrote programs in BASIC for the TRS-80[3] and founded his own software company.
Lafore has written a number of text adventure games, for which he coined the term "interactive fiction", for the company Adventure International.[4]
Lafore has authored a number of books on the subject of computer programming, including Soul of CP/M.,[5][6] and Assembly Language Primer for the IBM PC and XT.[7][8] Later books included C++ Interactive Course, Object-Oriented Programming in C++,[9][10] Turbo C Programming for the IBM,[11] and C Programming Using Turbo C++.[12] At one time he was an editor for the Waite Group publishers.[5]