Here follows a map of the Inform archipelago, marking the inhabited islands,
their shipping lanes and chief imports and exports:


         command line
       and/or ICL files in
              |
              | ICL commands
             \|/
         +----------+ FRONT
         | inform.c | END
         | memory.c |
         +----------+
              |
              | filenames
              |
             \|/          +------------+ LEXICAL
  ------>  files.c -----> | lexer.c    | ANALYSER
  source            chars | symbols.c  |
  code in                 +------------+
                              /|\  |
                        symbol |   |
                        values |   | tokens
                               |  \|/
                          +------------+
               SYNTAX     | syntax.c   | -----+------>  asm.c  --->---\
               ANALYSER:  | states.c   |     /  assembly /|\   initial|
               STATEMENTS |     .      |    /    language |       code|
                          | ---------- |   /              |           |
               @ ASSEMBLY | asm.c      | -/               |           |
                          | ---------- |                  |           |
                          |     .      | parse trees      |          \|/
              EXPRESSIONS | expressp.c | --+-------> expressc.c     asm.c
                          |  (map 6.1) |    \                         |
                          |     .      |     \                        |
                          |     .      |      \         TEXT          |
                          | ---------- |    strings   +-------+Z-text |
               DIRECTIVES | directs.c  |        \---->|text.c |-->---)|(--\
                          |     .      |              |chars.c|       |   |
                          |     .      |              +-------+       |   |
                          |     .      |        dictionary|           |   |
                          |     .      |       alphabets \|/         \|/  |
                          |     .      |                  |           |   |
                          | arrays.c   | ------->------\  |           |   |
                          |     .      |  array area   |  |        raw|   |
                          |     .      |               |  |     Z-code|   |
                          | objects.c  | ----->-----\  |  |           |   |
                          | verbs.c    |  objects   |  |  |           |   |
                          +------------+            |  |  |           |   |
                                |                  \|/\|/\|/         \|/  |
                                |    grammar      +----------+----------+ |
                                \---------------> | tables.c   bpatch.c | |
                                                  +----------+----------+ |
                                                       |    OUTPUT    |   |
                                                       |              |   |
                                            Z-machine \|/       Z-code|   |
                                                 up to |              |   |
                                             code area |             \|/ \|/
                                                       \-----------> files.c
                                                                        |
                                                                        |
                                                                       \|/
                                                                      story
                                                                    file out

(For clarity, the linker and a few smaller tables are missed out; and the
"service" sections of Inform, such as "errors.c" and the allocation code in
"memory.c", are missed out since they are, so to speak, pipes and sewers
which lie beneath the surface of the ocean.)