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-
-
-
-The Linux Tcl and Tk HOWTO
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!!The Linux Tcl and Tk HOWTO
-
-!!Luca Rossetti
-lukaros@tin.itv0.2, 07 November 1998
-
-
-----
-''This document describes the Linux approach to Tcl, a scripting langua
-ge.
-It is an easy to learn interpreted language that uses a typeless approach to
-achieve a higher level of programming and a rapid application development.
-The Tk toolkit is a programming environment for creating graphical user interf
-aces
-(GUI) under X Window System. Their capabilities include the possibility to
-extend and embed in other application, rapid development and ease of use. Toge
-ther,
-Tcl and Tk provide many benefits both to application developer and user. Tk-ba
-sed
-interfaces tend to be much more customizable and dynamic than those built with
-one of the C or C++ based toolkits. Tk implements the Motif look and feel.
-A great number of interesting X applications are implemented entirely in Tk,
-with no new application-specific commands at all.''
-----
-
-
-
-
-!!1. Introduction
-
-
-****1.1 Purpose of this document
-
-****1.2 What you should know before reading
-
-****1.3 New versions of this document
-
-****1.4 Revision History
-
-****1.5 Feedback and other stuff
-
-****1.6 Credits
-
-****1.7 Distribution Policy
-
-
-
-
-
-!!2. Tcl/Tk History
-
-
-****2.1 Cronology
-
-
-
-
-
-!!3. What is Tcl/Tk
-
-
-****3.1 What is Tcl?
-
-****3.2 What is Tk?
-
-****3.3 Extensions
-
-****3.4 Supported Platforms
-
-
-
-
-
-!!4. Installing and getting started with Tcl and Tk
-
-
-****4.1 Downloading the Core Distributions
-
-****4.2 Installation
-
-****4.3 The Contributed Archive
-
-****4.4 Mirror Sites
-
-****4.5 Which Releases to Use
-
-****4.6 Where to report problems, bugs, or enhancements
-
-
-
-
-
-!!5. Just a little bit of Programming
-
-
-****5.1 The one-minute program in Tcl
-
-
-
-
-
-!!6. Scripting Language: pros and cons
-
-
-****6.1 Some of the most common complaints about Tcl
-
-****6.2 Some of the most pros about Tcl
-
-
-
-
-
-!!7. Most Famous Programs using Tcl/Tk
-
-
-
-
-!!8. References
-
-
-****8.1 Books
-
-****8.2 Manual and On-line Tutorials
-
-****8.3 World Wide Web sites
-
-****8.4 Other documents & Frequently Asked Questions
-
-****8.5 Newsgroup
-
-
-
-
-
-!!9. Tcl/Tk License Terms
-----
-
-!! 1. Introduction
-
-
-
-
-
-This is the Linux Tcl and Tk HOWTO. It is intended as a Linux reference
-covering everything you should know concerning installation, configuration
-and an introduction to development under Tcl and Tk. History and some pros
-and cons about Tcl and Tk under Linux are analized, and references are given
-to many other sources of information on a variety of topics related to this
-simple but powerful scripting language.
-
-
-If you ever rebuilt your Linux kernel inside X using the command
-----
-
-make xconfig
-
-----
-
-
-you surely managed to face the strenght of this simple but powerful scripting
-language.
-
-
-After executing the first step of kernel rebuilding, a script called kconfig.tk
-is executed via wish (the Tcl intepreter). The Linux Kernel Configuration wind
-ow
-appears. Instead of answering a series of questions, this X-based configuratio
-n
-utility allows you to use checkboxes to select which kernel options you want
-to enable.
-
-
-The system stores your last configuration options so that every time you
-run it, you need only to add or remove some checks and you don't need to reent
-er
-the whole set of option. Moreover you can fill the whole (or part of the) list
-of kernel option the order you want. After this simplified step you can rebuil
-d
-your kernel in the traditional way.
-
-
-There's actually another famous case. Have you ever used "printtool"
-? (Printer Config Tool (C) Copyright 1994 by
-Red Hat Software - author: Michael
-Callahan).
-If you installed a Red Hat distribution you happily managed to
-use it to set up printing services . Well, printtool front-end is mainly a
-Tcl/Tk script.
-
-
-For those who don't know Red Hat let me tell you how you can easily configure
-your printers just filling some textboxes and filling in some checkboxes.
-
-
-The program itself takes care of setting up printing services through the
-creation of spooling directory, writes /etc/printcap file and the printer's
-filter, reloads lpd and tests your filter with ascii or postscript pages. It
-allows you manipulate ghostscript options (i.e. choose up to 8 pages per outpu
-t
-page and setting margins), has an help-on-line and many more features.
-
-
-What is the difference compared to other service-printing implementation?
-
-
-Everything is achieved by using Tcl/Tk as a "glue" between consolidated
-application and operating with normal Linux configuration files in a visual
-and interactive window under X-Window. No new application-specific commands
-were written at all.
-
-!!1.1 Purpose of this document
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Currently the purpose of the document is limited to giving initial references
-to Linux users; in future versions I will try to incorporate a small "Programm
-ing
-Tutorial".
-Let me state that again: this is not (and doesn't want to substitute)
-an omnicomprehensive "user manual" or "reference" for Tcl and Tk development
-and programming - it's just a starting point for Linux users.
-
-
-The author's concept of reference manual coincides with the definition
-of man pages and many people learn Tcl/Tk from these basic source of informati
-on.
-These files are a part of the source code distribution and are installed on
-your Linux box. You will be able to access the Tcl/Tk manual pages through
-the man command.
-
-
-Many structured and complete programming tutorials have been written in
-order to let the new user begin hacking with Tcl/Tk; tons of other material
-are available in the Internet. Interpreting Tcl/Tk philosophy I won't try to
-reinvent the wheel, I will manage to glue the huge amount of material already
-available.
-
-
-I suggest you to have a look at the other documents listed in the
-References section in order to find where to retri
-eve
-specific information about Tcl and Tk.
-
-!!1.2 What you should know before reading
-
-
-
-
-
-
-In order to understand the abc of Tcl/Tk you shouldn't be a programming-guru,
-command sintax is very simple. Basically you have to be familiar with:
-
-
-****simple programming concepts;
-****
-
-****using very common unix commands and/or utilities;
-****
-
-****having access to the Internet;
-****
-
-****using ftp.
-****
-
-
-!!1.3 New versions of this document
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Newer versions of this document will be uploaded to ftp site:
-ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/ pub/Linux/HOWTO/
-and will be available on all other mirrors.
-
-
-Hypertext and other versions of this and other Linux HOWTOs are available
-mainly at
-sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/lpd.ht ml
-and
-www.linux-howto.com and on
-many other Mirror World-Wide-Web sites.
-
-
-I will try to incorporate in
-my Web-Page the most
-recent html and sgml version of the document. Most Linux CD-ROM distributions
-include the HOWTOs, often in a subdir of /usr/doc/ directory, and you can also
-buy printed copies from several vendors.
-
-
-Sometimes the HOWTOs available from CD-ROM vendors, ftp sites, and in hardcopy
-format are out of date. If the date on this HOWTO is more than six months in
-the past, then a newer copy is probably available on the Internet.
-
-
-If you make a translation of this document into another language, drop
-me a line and I'll include a reference to it here.
-
-!!1.4 Revision History
-
-
-
-
-
-
-****__Version .1__: 28 October 1998 - first version;
-****
-
-****__Version .2__: 07 November 1998 - deep restyling and lifting.
-****
-
-
-!!1.5 Feedback and other stuff
-
-
-
-
-
-
-I rely on you, the reader, to make this HOWTO useful. If you have any suggestio
-ns,
-corrections, or comments, please send them to me, (
-Luca Rossetti ), and I will try to
-put them in the next revision.
-
-
-If any of the links mentioned in this document becomes unavailable or changes,
-please notify me immediately so that I can update and/or remove the link.
-
-
-I am willing to answer general questions about Tcl/Tk and Linux as best
-as I can. Before doing so, please read all of the information in this HOWTO,
-and send me detailed information about the problem.
-
-
-If you publish this document on a CD-ROM or in hardcopy form, a complimentary
-copy would be really appreciated. E-mail me and I will send you back my postal
-address.
-
-
-In many section I mention publishing companies or commercial URL sites:
-I really don't work for these guys.
-
-!!1.6 Credits
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Most of the information in this HOWTO comes from Dr. Ousterhout's
-Scriptics and Larry W. Virden
-comp.lang.tcl FAQs
-.
-
-
-I would like to thank the
-PLUTO Italian Linux User Group
-and the whole volunteers of
-ILDP (Italian Linux Document
-ation
-Project) especially Eugenia Franzoni and Giovanni Bortolozzo for their feedbac
-k.
-
-!!1.7 Distribution Policy
-
-
-
-
-
-
-This document is Copyright 1998 by
-Luca Rossetti.
-
-
-This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful to the
-reader: of course it is considered to be without any warranty; without even
-the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
-This HOWTO is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
-under the terms of the
-LDP COPYRIGHT
-.
-
-
-Please read the
-LDP Manifesto
-for more details.
-----
-
-!!2. Tcl/Tk History
-
-
-
-
-
-Tcl/Tk originated with
-Dr. John Ousterhout (pronounced
-"Oh'-stir-howt") while teaching at University of California, Berkeley, Califor
-nia.
-He actually started implementing it when he got back to Berkeley in the spring
-of 1988; by summer of that year it was in use in some internal applications,
-but there was no Tk. Read about the history of Tcl/Tk directly from its author
-'s
-words at
-www.scripti cs.com/scripting/tclHistory.html.
-
-!!2.1 Cronology
-
-
-
-
-
-
-****__1989:__ The first external releases of Tcl and beginning of Tk imp
-lemention;
-****
-
-****__1991__: First release of Tk;
-****
-
-****__1994:__ Dr. Ousterhout was hired by Sun Microsystems, Inc.: he was
-a Distinguished
-Engineer and led the Tcl project.
-****
-
-****__April/May 1997:__ the Sun research group responsible for Tcl devel
-opment
-were spun off into a Sun business group called !SunScript. However, things chan
-ged
-again soon afterwards. You can read more about that evolution selecting "!SunSc
-ript_story"
-at URL:
-Su nScript-Story .
-****
-
-****__August 1997:__ a Tcl Consortium was formed.
-****
-
-****__February 1998:__ Dr. Ousterhout left Sun to create
-Scriptics, a company dedicated
-to scripting tools, applications, and services. According to
-www.scriptics.com /about/news/qa.html,
-core Tcl and Tk remain free, with the team at Sun continuing work right now
-on Tcl/Tk 8.1. After the next release, the intention is that work on the core
-will migrate from Sun to Scriptics, with the Sun team will focus more on Tcl
-extensions and applications.
-****
-
-****__April 23, 1998:__ the Association for Computing Machinery
-ACM awarded the 1997 Software System
-Award to John Ousterhout and Scriptics (
-www.acm.org/awards/). This award
-is given to an institution or individual recognized for developing a software
-system that has had a lasting influence, reflected in contributions to concept
-s,
-in commercial acceptance, or both.
-****
-
-----
-
-!!3. What is Tcl/Tk
-
-
-
-
-!!3.1 What is Tcl?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Tcl is the acronym for "Tool Command Language" (it is pronounced "tickle").
-Tcl is actually divided into two things: a language and a library.
-
-
-Tcl is a simple textual programming language, intended for issuing commands
-to interactive programs such as text editors, debuggers and shells. It has
-a simple syntax and it is also programmable.
-
-
-Tcl users can write command procedures to provide more powerful commands
-than those given in the built-in set.
-
-
-Second, Tcl is a library package embeddable in applications. The Tcl library
-consists of a parser for the Tcl language, routines to implement the Tcl built
--in
-commands, and procedures which allow each application to extend Tcl with addit
-ional
-commands specific to that application. The application program generates Tcl
-commands and passes them to the Tcl parser for execution.
-
-
-Commands may be generated by reading characters from an input source, or
-by associating command strings with elements of the application's user interfa
-ce,
-such as menu entries, buttons, and other widgets. When the Tcl library receive
-s
-commands it parses them into component fields and executes built-in commands
-directly.
-
-
-For commands implemented by the application, Tcl calls back to the application
-to execute the commands. In many cases commands will make recursive invocation
-s
-of the Tcl interpreter by passing in additional strings to execute (in fact
-procedures and conditional-looping commands all work in this way). An applicat
-ion
-program can obtain many advantages by using Tcl for its command language:
-
-
-****Tcl provides a standard syntax: once users know Tcl, they will be able
-to issue commands easily to any Tcl-based application.
-****
-
-****Tcl succeeds to provides programmability. All a Tcl application needs to
-do is to implement a few application-specific low-level commands. Tcl provides
-many utility commands and a general programming interface for building up comp
-lex
-command procedures. By using Tcl, applications need not reimplement these feat
-ures.
-
-****
-
-****Extensions to Tcl, such as the Tk toolkit, provide mechanisms for communi
-cating
-between applications by sending Tcl commands back and forth. The common Tcl
-language framework makes it easier for applications to communicate with one
-another.
-****
-
-
-
-It is important to note that Tcl was designed thinking that the programmer
-should actually use two or more languages when designing large software system
-s.
-One for manipulating complex internal data structures, or where performance
-is important, and another, such as Tcl, for writing very small scripts that
-glue together the other pieces, providing hooks for the user to extend.
-
-
-For the Tcl script writer, ease of learning, ease of programming and ease
-of gluing are more important than performance or facilities for complex data
-structures and algorithms.
-
-
-Tcl was designed to make it easy to drop into a lower language when you
-come across tasks that make more sense at a lower level. In this way, the basi
-c
-core functionality can remain small and one need only bring along pieces that
-one particular wants or needs.
-
-
-One answer to "What is Tcl?" can be found at
-www.!NeoSoft.com/tcl /whatistcl.html
-.
-
-!!3.2 What is Tk?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Tk (pronounced "tee-kay") is an extension to Tcl which provides the programmer
-with an interface to the X11 windowing system . Note that Tk has been successf
-ully
-compiled under X11 R4, X11 R5, X11 R6, as well as Sun's NeWS/X11 environments.
-
-
-
-
-
-Many users will encounter Tcl/Tk via the "wish" command. Wish is a simple
-windowing shell which permits the user to write Tcl/Tk applications in a proto
-typing
-environment.
-
-
-At present Tcl/Tk cannot handle Japanese, Chinese, Korean, .... language
-fonts.
-
-!!3.3 Extensions
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Since Tcl is so easy to extend, many try to share extensions, including
-the popular itcl,
-[incr Tcl
],
-!ObjectTcl, TclX,
-Tix , and
-BLT.
-
-
-These extensions, of course, require an extended Tcl interpreter. Moreover,
-many Tcl free applications require a particular Tcl extension to run.
-
-
-One of the most popular extension is called
-Expect.
-It allows you to place a
-friendly front-end inside most command-line based UNIX applications, such as
-ftp, telnet, rlogin, passwd, fsck, and so on.
-
-
-A complete list of Tcl/Tk extensions can be found at URL
-www.scr iptics.com/resource/software/extensions/.
-
-!!3.4 Supported Platforms
-
-
-
-
-
-
-This section contains information about Tcl 8.0 and Tk 8., the most recent
-version of Tcl/Tk. They were originally released on August 18, 1997 and the
-most recent patch releases (8..3) were made on September 3, 1998.
-
-
-When you download Tcl and Tk you get two programs, wish and tclsh, supporting
-script libraries, and on-line reference documentation. These programs are gene
-ral
-purpose platforms for writing applications with Tcl. Wish includes the graphic
-al
-user interface toolkit Tk. The packages are ready to use after installation.
-
-
-
-
-
-Tcl 8.0 and Tk 8.0 run on most releases of the following operating systems:
-
-
-
-
-
-****Windows 95
-****
-
-****Windows NT
-****
-
-****Solaris and SunOS
-****
-
-****Linux
-****
-
-****HP-UX
-****
-
-****SGI
-****
-
-****IRIX
-****
-
-****Digital Unix
-****
-
-****AIX
-****
-
-****SCO Unix
-****
-
-****Most other Unix-like operating systems Macintosh (68K and Power Mac)
-****
-
-****Pre-compiled releases are available for different Linux distribution.
-****
-
-----
-
-!!4. Installing and getting started with Tcl and Tk
-
-
-
-
-
-Most modern distribution include Tcl and Tk. Rpm and deb packages with
-precompiled binaries are avalaible for Red Hat, SuSE and Debian distributions
-(that'll make installation easier).
-
-
-A modern distribution standard installation will include Tcl/Tk as it is
-needed by many configuration tools running mainly under X.
-
-
-Tcl and Tk are distributed freely in source form via the Internet. There
-are no restrictions on their use and no licenses or royalties are needed (see
-the
-license.terms section for complete information).
-
-
-
-
-
-Many more Tcl/Tk scripts and extensions are also available freely.
-
-!!4.1 Downloading the Core Distributions
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The Tcl/Tk core consists of the Tcl and Tk libraries, plus the wish and
-tclsh applications, associated documentation, script libraries, and demonstrat
-ive
-applications. The primary FTP site for this information is
-ftp.scriptics.com/pub/tcl/.
-
-
-
-
-
-The primary HTTP site is
-www.scriptics. com/software/download.html .
-
-!!4.2 Installation
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Unless already available for your Distribution in proprietary packages
-you'll want to download the source release. You'll need both Tcl and Tk source
-s.
-This procedure refers to the second case.
-
-
-Choose between compressed tar and gzipped tar format.
-
-
-Compressed Tar Files
-
-
-Tcl sources (tcl8..3.tar.Z): compressed tar file (about 2.4 Mbytes). Tk
-sources (tk8..3.tar.Z): compressed tar file (about 3.3 Mbytes).
-
-
-Gzipped Tar Files
-
-
-Tcl sources (tcl8..3.tar.gz): gzipped tar file (about 1.5 Mbytes). Tk
-sources (tk8..3.tar.gz): gzip'ed tar file (about 2.1 Mbytes).
-
-
-When you retrieve one of these files, you will get a compressed tar file
-with a name like tcl8..3.tar.gz or tcl8..3.tar.Z. The files are identical
-except for the technique used to compress them (.gz files are generally smalle
-r
-than .Z files).
-
-
-To unpack the distribution, invoke shell commands like the following, depending
-on which version of the release you retrieved:
-----
-
-gunzip -c tcl8..3.tar.gz
-
-----
-
-
-or
-----
-
-tar xf - zcat tcl8..3.tar.Z
-
-----
-
-
-or
-----
-
-tar xf - unzip tcl80.3.zip
-
-----
-
-
-Each of these commands will create a directory named tcl8..3, which includes
-the sources for all platforms, documentation, and the script library for Tcl
-8.. To compile and install the distribution, follow the instructions in the
-README file in the distribution directory. Be sure to compile Tcl before Tk,
-since Tk depends on information in Tcl.
-
-!!4.3 The Contributed Archive
-
-
-
-
-
-
-There are many other freely available packages for Tcl and Tk, including
-both scripts written in Tcl and extensions written in C or C++. These packages
-include database applications and network access, a graphical user interface
-builder, the expect program, additional Tk widgets, and dozens of other things
-.
-The primary site for the Tcl/Tk archive is
-ftp.neosoft.com/pub/tcl.
-
-!!4.4 Mirror Sites
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Several other sites around the world mirror the whole or part of the material
-from the core site and the contributed archive; you may find more useful to
-retrieve information from a mirror site that is close to you.
-
-
-Ftp file "_mirror" at:
-ftp.scriptics.com/pub/tcl/
-for a list of the mirror sites in your country.
-
-!!4.5 Which Releases to Use
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Always refer to newer recommended version in section "Tcl/Tk Core" of the
-
-
-
-Scriptics Soft ware Central page.
-
-
-At the time of this writing, recommended releases are the latest (Tcl 8..3
-and Tk 8..3), which were released in September, 1998. Tcl 8.0 contains a new
-bytecode compiler that can speed up execution by a factor of 2-10x. It also
-provides namespaces, binary I/O, and several other new features.
-
-
-Tk 8.0 is the first release to provide native look and feel on Macintoshes
-and PCs. Tk 8.0 also supports application embedding and has a new portable
-font mechanism. Both Tcl 8.0 and Tk 8.0 provide additional features in the
-Safe-Tcl security model.
-
-!!4.6 Where to report problems, bugs, or enhancements
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Use
-comp.lang.tcl for public communicati
-ons.
-
-
-The alternative would be to send problems, suggestions, new ideas, etc.
-directly to the author. Email to
-John Ousterhout will reach the
-author of Tcl and Tk.
-
-
-When reporting problems or bugs, be sure to mention all the details needed
-for a correct diagnosis. Basically you will have to describe what hardware,
-operating system and version of Tcl/Tk you are using, if you have made any
-modification or add on and provide, if possible, either a small piece of code,
-or a URL to some code which demonstrates the problem.
-
-
-If you have software from which you think the community might benefit (either
-a program, function, extension, or simple example), or you have a document,
-magazine or journal article, thesis, project, or even commercial advertisement
-,
-be sure to let the appropriate guys know.
-
-
-There are FAQ maintainers for each of these areas as well as a
-comp.lang.tcl.announce
-newsgroup you can use.
-
-
-It is always worthwhile to submit your contributions directly to the ftp
-site so more folk in the future can benefitthanks to your experience.
-
-
-To make announcements to the
-comp.lang.tcl.announce
-newsgroup, send email with the details to
-tcl-announce. Also, feel
-free to just point folk at your own ftp site or WWW site if you have one which
-can be used .
-----
-
-!!5. Just a little bit of Programming
-
-
-
-
-
-Since Tcl is an interpreted language, to run a Tcl program (also called
-a script), you normally pass the script file to the Tcl interpreter, wish,
-for example:
-----
-
-wish hello.tcl
-
-----
-
-
-You can also use wish in interactive mode and type in commands at the command
-line.
-
-
-There's another standard Tcl interpreter, tclsh, which only understands
-the Tcl language. Tclsh does not have any of the Tk user interface commands,
-so you cannot create graphical programs in tclsh.
-
-
-Some Tcl freeware applications extend the Tcl language by adding new commands
-written as C functions. If such is the case, you need to compile the applicati
-on
-instead of just passing its Tcl code to the wish interpreter. This application
-program, from a Tcl perspective, is really a new version of the wish interpret
-er,
-which the new C commands linked in. Of course, the application program may
-be a lot more than merely a Tcl interpreter. (Note: you can also use Tcl's
-auto-loading capability on systems that support it.)
-
-!!5.1 The one-minute program in Tcl
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Tcl has a simple structure. Each line starts out with a command, such as
-button and a number of arguments. Each command is implemented as if it was
-a C function. This function is responsible for handling all the arguments.
-
-
-
-
-
-As a very standard example, the following is the Hello World program in
-Tcl/Tk:
-----
-
-# This is a comment
-button .b -text "Hello World" -command exit
-pack .b
-
-----
-
-
-In this case you have to type the commands interactively to tclsh or wish.
-
-
-You can also place command into script files and invoke these just like
-shell scripts. To do this for the previous example, rewrite the Hello World
-program as follows:
-----
-
-#! /usr/local/bin wish -f
-button .b -text "Hello World" -command exit
-pack .b
-
-----
-
-
-Put the text inside a file called Hello and make sure that wish is installed
-in /usr/local/bin (otherwise you will have to change opportunely the path).
-
-
-Make the file Hello executable issuing the command
-----
-
-chmod 775 Hello
-
-----
-
-
-and run it inside X.
-
-
-You will see a button labelled Hello World inside a window: clicking it
-will close (exit) the window.
-----
-
-!!6. Scripting Language: pros and cons
-
-
-
-
-
-To understand the importance and the future of Tcl/Tk I strongly suggest
-to point your web browser at the URL
-www.scriptics .com/people/john.ousterhout/
-by
-John K. Ousterhout . You
-will read about the importance and the comparison between scripting (in langua
-ges
-such as Tcl) and system programming (in languages such as C and Java).
-
-
-To read a document about comparisons see
-the comparison discussion.
-
-
-Here's a summary of the most important pros and cons about Tcl/Tk.
-
-!!6.1 Some of the most common complaints about Tcl
-
-
-
-
-
-!Tcl is interpreted
-
-
-
-
-
-The data is primarily treated as strings, programs written in Tcl are slow.
-Tcl 8.x attempts to address this by doing some degree of compilation as well
-as permitting additional variable types.
-
-!Several characteristics are not intuitive
-
-
-
-
-
-Comments are commands rather than traditional comments, numbers beginning
-with 0 are octal, proper use of quoting mechanisms, etc. These aspects are
-covered in the various FAQs.
-
-!!6.2 Some of the most pros about Tcl
-
-
-
-
-
-!It is a high-level scripting language
-
-
-
-
-
-You need to write a lot less code to get your job done, especially when
-compared to Motif or Win32 applications. In general, the number of Line Of
-Code (LOC) of a software project is one of the most important complexity index
-es.
-
-
-
-
-!Tcl is free
-
-
-
-
-
-You can get the sources for free over the Internet from Scriptics Download
-Page or from the FTP site for Tcl.
-The software c ore site
-includes the source code version, as well as binary versions for Windows and
-Macintosh platforms; or, you can get Tcl on a number of CD-ROMs for a nominal
-cost.
-
-
-Read about Tcl and Tk core free at
-www.scriptics.com/about/n ews/qa.html .
-
-!It runs on many platforms
-
-
-
-
-
-Versions exist for UNIX (Linux... of course), Windows and Macintosh. Except
-for a few platform differences, your Tcl scripts will run the same way on all
-systems.
-
-!It is interpreted
-
-
-
-
-
-You can execute your code directly, without compiling and linking (though
-Tcl compilers are available).
-
-!It is extensible
-
-
-
-
-
-It's easy to add your own commands to extend the Tcl language. You can
-write your commands in C or Tcl.
-
-!It is embeddable in your applications
-
-
-
-
-
-The Tcl interpreter is merely a set of C functions that you can call from
-your code. This means you can use Tcl as an application language, much like
-a macro language for a spreadsheet application.
-
-!Tcl/Tk is Year 2000 (Y2K) compliant
-
-
-
-
-
-Read what the creator of the Tcl and Tk core tells about this topic
-www.scriptics.com/Y2K.html
-.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!7. Most Famous Programs using Tcl/Tk
-
-
-
-
-
-Apart from the two implementation described in the
-Introduction, there are many applications writte
-n
-in Tcl/Tk or a combination of Tcl and C. A complete list where to look for
-these implementation is the
-part 4
-of the frequently-asked questions on Tcl/Tk (FAQs). I suggest you to visit
-
-
-
-Scriptics' Softwar e Central.
-
-
-Another good starting point is
-www.!NeoSoft.com/tcl/.
-
-
-One of the best Tcl applications running under Linux is called
-!TkDesk
-a window manager and application launcher that works very well.
-
-
-If you're a Tcl/Tk Linux developer, feel free to
-send me a URL (and a description of
-the work) that I can link to in
here.
-----
-
-!! 8. References
-
-
-
-
-
-For many reasons people often like having a hard-copy manual as a reference
-or like to be helped by other folks online.
-
-
-Here you can find a selection of reference books, tutorials, www-sites
-and newsgroup.
-
-!!8.1 Books
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Many books concerning Tcl/Tk were written and are to be published. I won't
-even try to list them all (__another howto woudn't be enough for that__ :
-) ). You
-can find much more information plus additional notes at:
-
-
-****
-www.tcltk.com/consortium/resources/books.html
-****
-
-****
-www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/categories/computer-programming/tcl-tk-article/002-8989352-4516417
-****
-
-****Page: tcl_books.html at URL
-starbase-neosoft-tcl-books
-****
-
-
-
-Here I will try to summarize with some notes the book I know concerning
-the subject, they're all at a basic-medium level. Again, people who know the
-subject, have enough information about where to find advanced level books.
-
-
-
-
-!Tcl and the Tk Toolkit
-
-
-
-
-
-Author:
-John K. Ousterhout
-
-WWW book information:
-cseng.aw.com/bookdetail.qry?ISBN=%2D201%2D63337%2DX&ptype=
-
-Book's examples:
-ftp.script ics.com/pub/tcl/doc/book.examples.Z
-
-Book suppliment:
-www.scriptics.com/doc/tk 4..ps
-
-The book primarily covers Tcl 7.3 and Tk 3.6.
-
-!Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk, II ed.
-
-
-
-
-
-Author:
-Brent Welch
-
-WWW book information:
-www.beedub.com/book/
-
-Book's table of contents:
-www.beedub.com/book/
-
-Book promotion info at section_50000.html of the URL
-www.borders.com/sections/
-
-This updated edition describes Tcl / Tk 8.0 as it was during the beta period.
-Along with the material from the first edition, it also covers sockets, packag
-es,
-namespaces, a great section describing the changes in Tcl 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, and
-8.0 (and Tk as well), Safe Tk and the Plugin!
-
-!Tcl and Tk Reference Manual
-
-
-
-
-
-Editors: Donald Barnes,
-Marc Ewing, Erik Troan
-
-
-WWW book information:
-www.lsl.com/catalog/bo oks/tcltk/
-!The Visual TCL Handbook, 1/e
-
-
-
-
-
-Author:
-David Young
-
-WWW book information:
-www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=013461674X/u/7141-5908756-107481
-
-A comprehensive guide to Visual TCL. This book leads reader from basic
-graphical user interface development concepts to meaningful application develo
-pment.
-The book focuses on the TCLX and VT extensions, addressing many fundamental
-TCL topics. VT is a Motif based graphical interface, incompatible with Tk.
-The entire TCL language is documented in a separate Commands section. Comes
-with a CD-ROM that includes SGI, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX and Unixware versions
-of Visual Tcl.
-
-!Running LINUX
-
-
-
-
-
-Author: Matt Welsh and Lar Kaufman
-
-
-WWW book information:
-www.ora.com/ca talog/runux2/noframes.html
-
-Running Linux is a really well written basic book. It has a chapter on
-programming using Tcl/Tk. (and Perl, C, C++).
-
-!Tcl/Tk for Dummies (For Dummies)
-
-
-
-
-
-Author: Timothy Webster, with Alex Francis
-
-
-WWW book information:
-www.dummies.com/
-
-Another one of the series of the paperback programming books. This one
-focuses on the Tcl plugin as a programming environment.
-
-!Interactive Web Applications With Tcl/Tk
-
-
-
-
-
-Authors: Michael Doyle Hattie Schroeder
-
-
-WWW book information:
-www.eolas.com/tcl/
-
-This is a learning by example book, for people who know a bit of programming,
-but are not experts. It covers developing applets as well as stand-alone appli
-cations
-and simple server applications. The book comes with the Spynergy toolkit, whic
-h
-adds a variety of pure Tcl/Tk procedures for distributed processing, URL retri
-eval,
-HTML rendering, database management and platform independent file managment,
-Ed, a Tcl editor and testing environment, an image conversion tool, a demo
-of Tk features, a client/server version of a rolodex application, a pure Tcl
-web server, a client/server push application, a tcl web browser,
-
-!!8.2 Manual and On-line Tutorials
-
-
-
-
-
-
-****John Ousterhout has written an engineering style guide that describes the
-coding, documentation, and testing conventions that will be used at Sun in
-the coding of the C code in the Tcl core and has made it available to other
-Tcl and Tk developers. It is located at
-ftp.script ics.com/pub/tcl/doc/engManual.tar.Z
-****
-
-****A second style guide, covering the writing of Tcl scripts, can be found
-at
-ftp.scr iptics.com/pub/tcl/docs/styleGuide.tar.gz.
-Other versions of it can be found at
-sunscript.su n.com/techcorner/styleGuide.ps.
-****
-
-****
-A brief introduction to TCL/TK by
-David Martland
-****
-
-****Another tutorial untitled
-User interfaces with Tcl/T kwas
-written by
-Fintan Culwin .
-****
-
-****Although you should have your Tcl/Tk manual pages on your system, here's
-another place where to look for
-TCL Manual Pa ges (from TCL7.4)-Tk Manual Pages (from TK4.).
-****
-
-****
-The Tcl/Tk Cookbook offe
-rs
-a lot of getting-started information.
-****
-
-
-!!8.3 World Wide Web sites
-
-
-
-
-
-
-There are a great number of WWW resources which provide additional information
-about many aspects of Tcl and its extensions.
-
-
-****Refer to
-Tcl-FAQs (pa rt2)
-for a great number of pointers to Tcl/Tk documentation and web sites.
-****
-
-****Point your web browser at
-Tcl/Tk Information : a site with many
-links to !TclTk resources on the web (Information, Extensions, Tools, Training
-and Events).
-****
-
-****Point your Web browser at
-The Official Contributed Sources A rchive
-for the Tool Command Language (Tcl) and the Tk Toolkit, hosted by !NeoSoft,
-Inc.
-****
-
-****
- For a discussion dealing with the pros and cons
-of the major scripting languages :
-article in !SunWorld
-by
-Cameron Laird
-****
-
-****A web page that contains a variety of comparisons between Tcl/Tk and othe
-r
-similar systems. Most of them are taken from "comp.lang.tcl", the author would
-be happy to add any other important article that you folks want to send to
-him.:
-Comparison
-by
-Wayne Christopher.
-****
-
-****
-E.J. Friedman-Hill's Tcl/Tk Course:
-this document is available only in !PowerPoint source form and in low-quality
-HTML form (in HTML format all the figures and some of the text is missing).
-****
-
-
-!!8.4 Other documents & Frequently Asked Questions
-
-
-
-
-
-
-A lot of material is available on the Internet: introductory papers, white
-papers, tutorials, slides, postscript versions of published books in draft
-and many more.
-
-
-For a complete reference please give a look at the excellent
-Tcl-FAQs .
-
-!!8.5 Newsgroup
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-comp.lang.tcl is an unmoderated Usenet
-newsgroup, created for the discussion of the Tcl programming language and tool
-s
-that use some form of Tcl, such as the Tk toolkit for the X window system,
-Extended Tcl, and expect.
-
-
-For Tcl/Tk related announcements always refer to
-comp.lang.tcl.announce : you
-will find release announcement, patches, new application and so on.
-
-
-Again, faq could be retrieved at
-Tcl-FAQs.
-----
-
-!! 9. Tcl/Tk License Terms
-
-
-
-
-
-The following terms apply to the all versions of the core Tcl/Tk releases,
-the Tcl/Tk browser plug-in version 2., and !TclBlend and Jacl version 1..
-Please note that the !TclPro tools are under a different license agreement.
-This agreement is part of the standard Tcl/Tk distribution as the file named
-"license.terms".
-
-
-TCL/TK LICENSE TERMS
-
-
-This software is copyrighted by the Regents of the University of California,
-Sun Microsystems, Inc., Scriptics Corporation, and other parties. The followin
-g
-terms apply to all files associated with the software unless explicitly discla
-imed
-in individual files.
-
-
-The authors hereby grant permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and
-license this software and its documentation for any purpose, provided that
-existing copyright notices are retained in all copies and that this notice
-is included verbatim in any distributions. No written agreement, license, or
-royalty fee is required for any of the authorized uses. Modifications to this
-software may be copyrighted by their authors and need not follow the licensing
-terms described here, provided that the new terms are clearly indicated on
-the first page of each file where they apply.
-
-
-IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR DISTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR
-DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT
-OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, ITS DOCUMENTATION, OR ANY DERIVATIVES THEREOF,
-EVEN IF THE AUTHORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
-
-
-THE AUTHORS AND DISTRIBUTORS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING,
-BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR
-A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ON AN
-"AS IS" BASIS, AND THE AUTHORS AND DISTRIBUTORS HAVE NO OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE
-MAINTENANCE, SUPPORT, UPDATES, ENHANCEMENTS, OR MODIFICATIONS.
-
-
-GOVERNMENT USE: If you are acquiring this software on behalf of the U.S.
-government, the Government shall have only "Restricted Rights" in the software
-and related documentation as defined in the Federal Acquisition Regulations
-(FARs) in Clause 52.227.19 (c) (2). If you are acquiring the software on behal
-f
-of the Department of Defense, the software shall be classified as "Commercial
-Computer Software" and the Government shall have only "Restricted Rights" as
-defined in Clause 252.227-7013 (c) (1) of DFARs. Notwithstanding the foregoing
-,
-the authors grant the U.S. Government and others acting in its behalf permissi
-on
-to use and distribute the software in accordance with the terms specified in
-this license.
-
-
-
-----
+Describe
[HowToTclTkHOWTO
] here.
