Newsgroups: comp.lang.tcl.announce,comp.lang.tcl,comp.lang.perl.tk,comp.answers,news.answers
Path: lvirden
From: lvirden@cas.org (Larry W. Virden)
Subject: comp.lang.tcl Frequently Asked Questions (May 31, 1996) (1/5)
Followup-To: comp.lang.tcl
Summary: A regular posting of the comp.lang.tcl Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) and their answers. This is the first of five parts.
This part introduces Tcl and Tk and discusses documentation, etc.
Originator: lvirden@cas.org
Keywords: tcl, extended tcl, tk, expect
Sender: lvirden@cas.org
Reply-To: lvirden@cas.org (Larry W. Virden)
X-Url: http://www.teraform.com/%7Elvirden/tcl-faq/part1.html
Archive-name: tcl-faq/part1
Comp-lang-tcl-archive-name: tcl-faq.part01
Version: 7.000
Last-modified: May 31, 1996
For more information concerning Tcl (see "tcl-faq/part2"),
(see "tcl-faq/part3"), (see "tcl-faq/part4"), or (see "tcl-faq/part5").
Also (see "tcl-faq/commercial-uses/part1"),
(see "tcl-faq/bibliography/part1"), (see "tcl-faq/usage"),
(see "tk/part1"), or (see "tcl-faq/windows").
Index of questions:
I. Origin of comp.lang.tcl, the FAQ information, and
to whom do I contact for more information about the FAQ?
II. What is Tcl? Tk? Extended Tcl? Rush? What is Tcl _not_?
III. Do these packages run on my machine?
A. Unix
B. MacOS
C. INTEL DOS-like systems
D. VMS
E. AmigaDOS
F. NeXT
G. Other
IV. Other than C, What languages can talk to tcl/tk?
A. Shell
B. C++
C. Modula-3
D. Eiffel
E. Ada
F. Perl
G. Prolog
H. Other
V. What training material is available?
A. Books, Training courses, etc.
B. Time-related seminars, conferences, sessions.
VI. Where do I report problems, bugs, or enhancements about Tcl - or -
what is comp.lang.tcl?
End of FAQ Index
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
From: FAQ General information
Subject: -I- Origin of comp.lang.tcl, the FAQ information, and
to whom do I contact for more information about the FAQ?
What is comp.lang.tcl?
First, let me assure you what it is not.
<URL:news:comp.lang.tcl> (and <URL:news:comp.lang.tcl.announce> now)
are NOT bulletin boards. They are not innately mailing lists. Some
users may experience the messages in those manners, but these
communities of users are what is known as USENET newsgroups. While
Dr. John Ousterhout was the creator of the original, unmoderated
<URL:news:comp.lang.tcl>, in the current incarnation, clt (as it is
often referenced) has no moderator, no owner, no authority to whom one can
appeal when one feels slighted, offended, libeled, etc. On the other hand,
there are a group of moderators associated with
<URL:news:comp.lang.tcl.announce>, whose job it is to ensure that the
postings there remain 'on charter'.
The majority of readers of <URL:news:comp.lang.tcl> are
access the postings in English, and seem to prefer plain text postings
formatted to 78 or less characters per line, as opposed to HTML, Postscript,
MIME base64, Macintosh special character sets, etc.. They also prefer to
have postings which specify a working email address in the From or Reply-To
header (or at least in the body of the msg somewhere). While
alternatives to that are certainly possible, you decrease the chance of
getting a timely relevant answer by choosing alternatives to these.
These rules are not unique to clt, but are the typical USENET netiquette
that posters are asked to respect.
One question that comes up fairly often concerning
<URL:news:comp.lang.tcl> is 'why isn't it split?'. The newsgroup varies
in traffic, but I have seen as many as 45 messages a day
(counting current cross postings, etc.)
Currently, many have come
forward with ideas on how a split could be handled, but no concensus
has been reached. Also, no moderators have stepped forward to take
over moderation of a split group. During January, 1996,
<URL:news:comp.lang.tcl.announce>, a moderated group containing
announcements of new software, doc, etc. relating to Tcl, was created.
So as of right now, asking to split the newsgroup only adds to the existing
traffic, without resolving any problems.
The information in this set of FAQs comes from several sources. The
primary source of information is the group itself - I spend (much too
much) time each month culling through what I feel are some of the best
answers, gathering up new information on ports, etc. and adding it
here. I also gather new application information and add it as
best I can. The next most predominant source of information comes from
the authors of the various software packages. Finally, a small amount
comes from my personal experiences. You can find my general
Tcl FAQs at either <URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-faq.part01.gz>
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-faq.part02.gz>,
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-faq.part03.gz>,
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-faq.part04.gz>,
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-faq.part05.gz>, or
<URL:http://www.teraform.com/%7Elvirden/tcl-faq/>.
The primary location for the commercial use of Tcl FAQ is
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-commercial-faq.gz> as well
as <URL:http://www.cpu.com/cpu/tclcom1.htm>.
The author is <URL:mailto:gwl@cpu.com> (Gerald W. Lester). This FAQ
contains information either about commercial products which incorporate
Tcl as a part of them, firms which teach classes about Tcl and Tk in some
manner, and other commercial ventures. Please be sure to contact
the maintainer for all relevant material about _your_ product!
The next FAQ contains a bibliography of published material
related to Tcl, and will be managed by <URL:mailto:glv@utdallas.edu>
(Glenn Vanderburg). (See "tcl-faq/bibliography/part1") or ftp it at
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-faq-bib.gz>.
The second FAQ contains a series of Tcl-related questions
and answers and is managed by <URL:mailto:joe@morton.rain.com> (Joe Moss).
(See "tcl-faq/usage"), <URL:http://route.psg.com/tcl.html>,
<URL:http://psg.com/%7Ejoem/tcl/faq.html> or find it at
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-faq-usage.gz>.
The third contains Tk-related questions and answers and
is managed by <URL:mailto:tja@cpu.com> (Thomas J. Accardo). You can
(see "tcl-faq/tk/part1") or find it
at <URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-faq-tk-usage.gz>
FAQs are also available for the Windows port of Tcl
<URL:http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/efjohnson/tclwin.htm>
and perl/Tk <URL:http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/%7Epvhp/ptk/ptkFAQ.html>.
The Japanese translation of the five part FAQ can be
located at <URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/docs/tcl-faq-j5.3.tar.gz>.
This file contains Japanese EUC-Kanji codes. Contact
<URL:mailto:taguchi@fox.aic.co.jp> (Taguchi Takeshi) for more information.
If you have corrections, enhancements, modifications,
clarifications, suggestions, ideas, new questions, new answers to
questions which have never been asked, or something else that I have
not covered above, contact me at <URL:mailto:lvirden@cas.org>.
------------------------------
From: FAQ General information
Subject: -II- What is Tcl? Tk? Extended Tcl?
o Highlights of Tcl based languages
Tcl and Tk originated with Dr. John Ousterhout (OH'-stir-howt)
from the University of California, Berkeley, California. A quip about
the pronunciation of Dr. O's last name from <URL:news:comp.lang.tcl> pundit
<URL:mailto:js@aelfric.bu.edu> Jay Sekora:
> `It's pronounced Oh-stir-howt
> without a doubt!
> Not Oh-stir-hoot;
> he's not a brute.'
Dr. Ousterhout got the idea for Tcl while on sabbatical leave
at DEC's Western Research Laboratory in the fall of 1987. He started
actually 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. The first external releases of Tcl
were in 1989. Tk implemention began in 1989, and the first release of
Tk was in 1991.
Tcl (current release version 7.5) stands for ``tool command
language'' and is pronounced ``tickle.'' The author's home ftp site for
the Tcl source code is <URL:ftp://ftp.sunlabs.com/pub/tcl/>.
Tcl is actually two things: a language and a library. First, Tcl is a
simple textual language, intended primarily for issuing commands to
interactive programs such as text editors, debuggers, illustrators, and
shells. It has a simple syntax and is also programmable, so Tcl users
can write command procedures to provide more powerful commands than
those in the built-in set.
Second, Tcl is a library package that can be embedded in
application programs. The Tcl library consists of a parser for the Tcl
language, routines to implement the Tcl built-in commands, and
procedures that allow each application to extend Tcl with additional
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 interface, such as menu entries, buttons, or
keystrokes. When the Tcl library receives 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 invoke recursive
invocations of the Tcl interpreter by passing in additional strings to
execute (procedures, looping commands, and conditional commands all
work in this way).
An application program gains several advantages by using Tcl for
its command language. First, Tcl provides a standard syntax: once
users know Tcl, they will be able to issue commands easily to any
Tcl-based application. Second, Tcl provides programmability. All a
Tcl application needs to do is to implement a few application-specific
low-level commands. Tcl provides many utility commands plus a general
programming interface for building up complex command procedures. By
using Tcl, applications need not re-implement these features. Third,
extensions to Tcl, such as the Tk toolkit, provide mechanisms for
communicating between applications by sending Tcl commands back and
forth. The common Tcl language framework makes it easier for
applications to communicate with one another.
Note that Tcl was designed with the philosophy that one should
actually use two or more languages when designing large software
systems. One for manipulating complex internal data structures, or
where performance is key, and another, such as Tcl, for writing
smallish scripts that tie 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 basic core functionality can remain small and one need only bring
along pieces that one particular wants or needs.
Tk (current release 4.1) is an extension to Tcl which provides
the programmer with an interface to the X11 windowing system. Note
that Tk has been successfully compiled under X11 R4, X11 R5, X11 R6,
as well as Sun's NeWS/X11 environments.
The author's home ftp site for the Tk source is the directory
<URL:ftp://ftp.sunlabs.com/pub/tcl/>.
Note that many users will encounter Tk via the ``wish'' command. Wish
is a simple windowing shell which permits the user to write Tcl
applications in a prototyping environment.
Read <URL:http://www.sunlabs.com/people/john.ousterhout/> and
<URL:http://www.sunlabs.com/research/tcl/> for details.
The future of Tcl and Tk is quite bright. This year Dr. Ousterhout
announced that he has been employed by Sun Microcomputer, Inc. to do
some further development of Tcl / Tk. Some of the short term (within the
next 12 months or so) plans that Dr. O has mentioned are:
- Ports of Tcl and Tk to both the PC and Mac, so scripts written on one
platform will run on any of the others, presenting their UI in the look
and feel of the platform on which they run.
- A commercial-quality graphical interface designer like Visual Basic or
NextStep.
- Dynamic loading of C code in Tcl.
- Incorporating Nathaniel Borenstein's Safe-Tcl back into the Tcl core,
so that there is a safe mechanism for executing untrusted scripts that
arrive via the Internet.
John has given me permission to add this quote as well:
>From: ouster@tcl.eng.sun.com (John Ousterhout)
>Newsgroups: comp.lang.tcl
>Subject: Re: The future of TcL/Tk's Copyright Terms
>Date: 31 Aug 1994 20:08:19 GMT
>Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
>Message-ID: <342nvj$6e9@engnews2.Eng.Sun.COM>
> I discussed the status of the Tcl and Tk libraries with people at Sun
> as part of my pre-hire negotiations, and we're in agreement that they
> will remain free and unrestricted just as they have always been. Future
> enhancements made to Tcl and Tk by my group at Sun, including the ports
> to Macs and PCs, will be made freely available to anyone to use for
> any purpose. My view, and that of the people I report to at Sun, is
> that it wouldn't work for Sun to try to take Tcl and Tk proprietary
> anyway: someone (probably me, in a new job) would just pick up the
> last free release and start an independent development path. This
> would be a terrible thing for everyone since it would result in
> incompatible versions.
> Of course, Sun does need to make money from the work of my team or else
> they won't be able to continue to support us. Our current plan is to
> charge for development tools and interesting extensions and applications.
> Balancing the public and the profitable will be an ongoing challenge for
> us, but it is very important both to me and to Sun to keep the support
> of the existing Tcl community. I imagine this discussion will repeat
> from time to time over the next few years, but I think we can make things
> work out well for everyone.
See <URL:http://www.utdallas.edu/acc/glv/Tcl/usenix95-bof.html> for
more details.
John also has asked me to mention the following:
> there are now pages containing release notes. The best thing is just to
> refer people to my home page, which is:
> <URL:http://www.sunlabs.com/people/john.ousterhout/>
> <URL:http://www.sunlabs.com/research/tcl/>
> <URL:http://www.sunlabs.com/research/%7Eouster/>
> You might put a notice about this in the FAQ to help people who see
> the FAQ after we reorganize.
Extended Tcl (tclX) (Version 7.5a) - This is an extended set of
commands for Tcl developed by Karl Lehenbauer and Mark Diekhans. The
authors' home ftp site for Extended Tcl is
<URL:ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/distrib/>.
Extended Tcl is oriented towards system programming tasks, with many additional
interfaces to the Unix operating system along with other useful
utilities.
Rush is a Tcl-like extension language announced at the Tcl'94
Workshop. Its syntax and semantics are very similar to Tcl's, but it
additionally offers an optimizing compiler and a new feature called rules.
Its primary advantage over Tcl is performance within a factor of 100 of C,
whereas a Tcl compiler is unlikely to do better than a factor of 1000 of
C. Rush is not yet publicly available, though ambitious alpha testers
are encouraged to inquire. Mail can be sent to either
<URL:mailto:asah@cs.berkeley.edu> or <URL:mailto:blojo@cs.berkeley.edu>.
For more information, see the paper
<URL:ftp://ginsberg.cs.berkeley.edu/pub/asah/papers/rush-tcl94.ps.gz>.
o General information about Tcl and Tk by <URL:mailto:glv@utdallas.edu>
(Glenn Vanderburg)
Tcl (Tool command language) is a freely distributable simple,
interpreted language designed to be used as a common extension and
customization language for applications. It was designed and
implemented by Dr. John Ousterhout in the hope that application
designers could spend more of their time on applications and less on
scripting languages, and in the hope that users could spend less time
learning new scripting languages for each new application. Many useful
applications, some of them sold commercially, use Tcl as their
scripting language.
Tcl is clean and regular, and relatively easy for non-hackers to
learn. It is command-oriented, and commands added by applications and
users exist on an equal footing with the built-in Tcl commands. Tcl
has both simple variables and associative arrays (tables), and all
values (including procedure bodies) are represented as strings.
Simple customization scripts (such as preference initialization
scripts) usually look much like novice users expect them to: a series
of simple commands which set options.
Tcl is implemented as a C library, which can be embedded in an
application. The application can add its own commands to the
interpreter (using a clean C interface). It is distributed under a
license which allows use for any purpose with no royalties.
The Tk toolkit is a Tcl extension (a group of new Tcl commands) which
provides a Tcl interface to the X Window System. Tk is one of the
easiest ways to build a graphical interface to an application, and due
to the interpreted nature of Tcl, Tk-based 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 number
of interesting X applications are implemented entirely in Tk, with no
new application-specific commands at all. Tk also provides a
mechanism by which one application can send Tcl scripts to other
Tk-based applications running on the same display, for easy
cooperation between tools.
Tcl and Tk are mature, and quite stable, but they are not static:
Dr. Ousterhout has moved from Berkeley to Sun Microsystems, where his
group is pursuing such projects as a commercial-quality Tk
graphical interface designer, an on-the-fly Tcl compiler, and
Macintosh and Microsoft Windows ports of Tk. John has stated that the
copyright status and licensing provisions of Tcl and Tk will not change.
----
As to what Tcl is not - in the context of the discussion in
<URL:news:comp.lang.tcl>, it is not related directly to the
Think C Library (TCL) available on the Mac. Confusingly enough, the language
concerned with here _is_ available on the Mac, and someone in fact may have
used Think C to compile it there. Just one of those universal 'coincidences'
that set the stage for Vogon interstellar highway construction crews.
Also, Oracle has a product called Tk2Motif which has nothing to do with
Tcl or Tk as we are referring to it.
------------------------------
From: FAQ General information
Subject: -III- Do these packages run on my machine?
A. Unix
Tcl runs on Sun 3s and 4s running SunOS 4 and SunOS 5 (Solaris
1.x and 2.x), DECstations running Ultrix, DEC VAXen running Ultrix or
BSD, DEC Alphas running OSF/1, 386s running SCO Unix, Xenix, Bell-Tech,
Silicon Graphics running IRIX, all sorts of HPs running HP-UX (even HP Snakes
running OSF/1 and HP-UX). Intel [34]86 systems running
386bsd, netbsd, freebsd, BSDI, and Linux have Tcl ported. Various CPUs
running System V.4 report having ported Tcl. Tcl also appears to be
running on Sequent Symmetry running Dynix as well as OSF/1. It also
has been reported to run fine on IBM RS6000 under AIX 3.x as well as
IBM ES/9000 and AIX/ESA. There were few problems getting it running
under Mt. Xinu Mach. It also has been ported to Encore 91's running
UMAX V (an 88k based System V with BSD extension Unix). It also runs
on Apollos running BSD/SYSV. Tcl runs on a Cray running Unicos.
Someone ported Tcl to a Sony NeWS machine running NEWS-OS 4.2.
A port to a Convex 3220 and 3880 was also reported.
Folks have compiled Tcl/Tk/BLT/itcl to a Mac running the latest A/UX.
A port to Tenon MachTen 2.1VM, running on a Mac II which was running
MacOS System 7.1, has been reported. The autoconfig did most of the work.
That particular user had not ported Tk to this environment yet.
Tcl also runs on Supermax Motorola/MIPS based multiprocessors
under SMOS.
Tk (being based on Tcl) generally requires X11R4 or better as
the only additional software requirement. It runs on any of the above
Unix systems with that base of software. It also runs on VMS and
OSF/1.
For information on Tcl/Tk/TclX availability (see "tcl-faq/part4").
B. MacOS
(See "tcl-faq/part2") for details of a Macintosh Tcl Mailing list.
Ray Johnson <URL:mailto:raymond.johnson@eng.sun.com> has a
package called MacTcl. This is a fairly straight port of Tcl to the
Macintosh. It is designed to be used as libraries to be embedded into
other applications. A basic shell is included. Most Tcl features are
present, including many Unix-like features. Additional features
include supporting the env variable and sourcing Tcl code from a
resource. The current version is available at
<URL:ftp://ftp.sunlabs.com/pub/tcl/>.
As of Tcl 7.5/Tk 4.1 (now in beta testing), the source code for
Tcl and Tk should compile and run on a Macintosh from the original
distribution.
Also (see "tcl-faq/part4"), the Tcl programs/packages catalog,
for the latest port locations and versions.
C. INTEL DOS-like systems
Numerous ports to DOS are available. One unsupported port to
MS-DOS of Tcl and Extended Tcl V6.0a, done by
<URL:mailto:Karl@NeoSoft.com> (Karl Lehenbauer), is available on
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/dostcl.zoo> for binaries and
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/dostcl60.zoo> for source.
A port of Tcl, V6.1 ?, done by unknown, to MS-DOS Windows
V 3.1 ?, is available as binary at
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/w_tclbin.zip> and as source at
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/w_tclsrc.zip>.
A port of Tcl V6.2 to MS-DOS was done by
<URL:mailto:johnm@cajal.uoregon.edu> (John Martin) and is available via FTP
from <URL:ftp://cajal.uoregon.edu/pub/tcl.dos.port/> and
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/tcl62.dos.tar.Z>.
An MS-DOS Windows DLL instance of Tcl 6.2 was generated by
<URL:mailto:ugo@oliver.sublink.org> (Ugo Cei). Contact him for more details.
A Windows DLL was made by <URL:mailto:ekki@prakinf.tu-ilmenau.de>
(Ekkehard Beier) by slightly modifying a DOS 6.2 Tcl port. There are still
problems with the system/WinExec command. A very rudimentary Debugger
User Interface using Borland's Classlib is part of the zip-file, too.
The source was used also with BC3.1++/AF on MS W3.1. You can get a copy from
<URL:ftp://metallica.prakinf.tu-ilmenau.de/pub/DOS/wintcl.zip>
via anonymous ftp. Unfortunately Ekki doesn't have time currently to
finish the Windows port and user Interface.
A source code only port of Tcl V6.7 to MS-DOS, done by
<URL:mailto:PSPRENG@CIPVAX.BIOLAN.UNI-KOELN.DE> (Peter Sprenger), is available
from him, somewhere on wuarchive.wustl.edu or as
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/tcl67dos.zip>.
A port of Tcl, version 7.3, to MS-DOS, done by
<URL:mailto:tpoindex@nyx.net> (Tom Poindexter), is available as
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/mstcl73e.zip> and
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/mstcl73s.zip>. This
also includes TclX 7.3a and Tk ported to Desqview/X libraries.
<URL:mailto:ken@ms.uky.edu> (Professor Ken K. Kubota) has
announced a port of Tcl 7.3 and Tk3.6a to MS DOS Windows using Borland
C++ 4.0. Fetch the README files from the ftp sites
<URL:ftp://ftp.ms.uky.edu/pub/tk-win/{tkwinbin,tkwin,fedloc}.zip> for
more information.
Omar Stanford <URL:mailto:omar@fcm.missouri.edu> reported in
March of 1994 that he had almost completed his port of Tcl 7.3
to MS-Windows 3.1. He had incorporated extensions for networking
(including NetWare), Windows Sockets, and many Windows API functions.
He also was working on a facility for dynamically allocating commands
to the Tcl environment. If there are other extensions that one would
like to see under Windows 3.1, or if you are interested in beta
testing, drop him a line.
<URL:mailto:haga@sra.co.jp> (Toshihiko Haga) and
<URL:mailto:miyata@sra.co.jp> (Shigeaki Miyata)
announced twin (tcl/tk for MS-Windows), which does not support exec and
send, but supports a -bitmap for Windows .bmp files. A few other
modifications or special exceptions are noted. This package's files
can be found at
<URL:ftp://ftp.sra.co.jp/pub/lang/tcl/{twinesrc,twinebin}.zip> and
<URL:ftp://ftp.sra.co.jp/pub/lang/tcl/{twinesrc,twinebin}.doc>.
Also, Simon Kenyon <URL:mailto:simon@news.itc.icl.ie> of the
Information Technology Centre, Dublin, IRELAND, mentions that they
are starting to port Tk to MS-Windows. There is a mailing list (see
"tcl-faq/part2") for folk who are interested.
A package to take older Tcl source distributions and rename them
to MS-DOS conventions, so that it can be compiled, has been written by
<URL:mailto:byennaco@east.sun.com> (Bob Yennaco). It is available as
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/tcl2dos.sh.gz>
As of Tcl 7.5 (now in alpha testing), the source code for
Tcl and Tk should compile and run on Windows machines from the original
distribution.
Steve Furr <URL:mailto:furr@qnx.com> reports getting Tcl ported
to QNX without a lot of trouble. He mentions that QNX users who have
the beta X should have gotten a CD-ROM update with Tcl and Tk on the
CD.
A port of Tcl 7.3, except for glob or command pipelines, to OS/2 2.x
using C Set++ has been done by <URL:mailto:wwb@wwa.com> (Bud Bach).
Andreas Stuebinger <URL:mailto:stuebing@infosun.fmi.uni-passau.de>
also has done an OS/2 port of Tcl (version unknown). Tcl 7.4 has been
ported to OS/2 by Stefano Fornari <URL:mailto:fornari@ipvvis.unipv.it>
It is available at <URL:ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/devtools/languages/>.
Illya Vaes <URL:mailto:ivaes@hr.ns.nl> is working on a port of Tk 4.1
(the Win32 version) to OS/2 Presentation Manager. He is using the native
PM/GPI calls and should be able to support OS/2 2.x. It is reported that
Ilya Zakharevich <URL:mailto:ilya@math.ohio-state.edu> is doing something
similar, using the Developer's API extensions to directly support most of
the Win32 API's under OS/2 Warp with DAX/DAPIE and Fixpack 17 installed.
Contact them for more details on the progress being made.
Also (see "tcl-faq/part4"), the Tcl programs/packages catalog,
for the latest port locations.
D. VMS
A port of Tcl 7.3 and Tk 3.6 to VMS was done by Angel Li
<URL:mailto:angel@flipper.rsmas.miami.edu>. The files are at
<URL:ftp://mango.rsmas.miami.edu/pub/VMS-tcl/tcl73-tk36-itcl13.tar.Z>
and were compressed with the Unix compress command. The pathname may
be subject to change as I have seen notes from Angel Li mentioning that
BLT 1.6 and the photo widget have also been ported. These were compiled
on an Alpha running OpenVMS T6.1.
A port of Tcl 6.3 onto VMS 5.5 was done by Wolfgang Kechel
<URL:mailto:wolfgang@pr-wiesbaden.de> and Till Imanuel Panzschke. Contact them
directly for assistance.
A port of most of Tcl 6.7 and Tk 3.2 was done by John Kimball
<URL:mailto:jkimball@src.honeywell.com> to VMS 5.5. The files are on
<URL:ftp://src.honeywell.com/pub/tcl67-tk32-on-vms55.tar.Z>.
A port of Tcl 7.0 and Tk 3.3 has being done to VMS on the
VAX and Alpha. These are available as:
<URL:ftp://src.honeywell.com/pub/vms-tcl/tcl70-tk33-on-vms55.tar.Z>
or
<URL:ftp://src.honeywell.com/pub/tcl70-tk33-on-vms55.tar.Z>.
Gerald W. Lester <URL:mailto:gwlester@cpu.com> says the following
_should_ work. If you installed the POSIX package on VMS (its free),
then you should be able to configure and make tcl. To access tcl you
would have to do one of the following: 1) Use the POSIX shell, or 2) do
a "psx tcl". Tcl scripts would not execute directly from DCL; to
execute a script foo.tcl from DCL you would have to do "psx foo.tcl".
DISCLAIMER: I have not built any version of tcl under VMS POSIX, these
comments are based on other work I've done with VMS POSIX.
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/vms-sharable-binaries.tar.gz>
is a version of Tcl/Tk for VMS built as a sharable library. It
includes a dynamic module loading command. Otherwise, it matches the
src.honeywell.com version.
Also (see "tcl-faq/part4"), the Tcl programs/packages catalog,
for the latest port locations.
E. AmigaDOS
Karl Lehbauer <URL:mailto:karl@sugar.NeoSoft.com> has indicated that
he started a port of Tcl 3.x to the Amiga. He has a working
version, but is no longer working on it. His version uses the
Amiga's shared libraries and implements the "send" command.
He wrote a MIDI file loader and player as well. Contact him for
further details.
Ty Sarna <URL:mailto:tsarna@endicor.com> has ported Tcl 6.x to the
Amiga. He says:
> I've ported 3.3 and several 6.x versions to the Amiga, and it can be
> done in under and hour if you leave out the "Unix" functionality.
> However, "Unix" functionality includes things like file I/O!
Another Amiga user, <URL:mailto:colas@opossum.inria.fr>
(Colas Nahaboo), mentioned that using Amiga gcc and the PD X server DaggeX
and Xlibs that a port of Tk might be possible.
<URL:mailto:hnm@hermes.bouw.tno.nl> (Marco van der Heiden) has
completed a port to the Amiga, and suggests Amiga developers contact him
by email.
<URL:mailto:wulf@hotdog.ping.de> (Berndt Wulf) reports building
Tcl and Tk on an Amiga system running NetBSD1.0b2, using the sources on
the Walnut Creek Tcl/Tk CD-ROM.
A version of Tcl is apparently available on Fish disk number 447.
I do not have information concerning what version of Tcl this is. It
is my understanding that the Fish disks are available on many of the
Amiga Internet archive sites, one of which is
<URL:ftp://ftp.cso.uiuc.edu/>.
Also (see "tcl-faq/part4"), the Tcl programs/packages catalog,
for the latest port locations.
F. NeXT
(See "tcl-faq/tk/part1") for details on getting Tk to compile under
NeXTStep and (see "tcl-faq/usage") for details on getting Tcl to compile.
G. Other
A port to the Apple IIgs and GNO 1.1/GSOS environment is underway.
A beta port of Tcl 7 has been done to VxWorks.
You can find it at
<URL:ftp://thor.atd.ucar.edu/pub/vx/tclvx7.0.v2.tar.gz> or a name
similar (if updates have occurred).
A port to GEOS was attempted, but it was found to be difficult to
run there (except perhaps under the desktop platform) due to resource limits
and constraints.
A port of Tcl/Tk and X11R6 to OS-9 has been reported to be
done by <URL:mailto:kt@keihh.hanse.de> Kei Thomasen. A different port of
Tcl/Tk to OS-9 was done by <URL:mailto:oertel@port.de> Heinz-Juergen Oertel.
Also (see "tcl-faq/part4"), the Tcl programs/packages catalog,
for the latest port locations.
------------------------------
From: FAQ General information
Subject: -IV- Other than C, what languages can talk to tcl/tk?
A. Shell
There are a number of interfaces which are shell-like. The
first is tclsh, which comes as a sample program implementing a Tcl
interpreter as a part of the Tcl distribution. Another is wish, which
is a shell-like interface that is a part of the Tk package. Many of
the other extensions also build interpreters as well. The tclX extension
is an example - it builds an interpreter called tcl as well as one called
wishx.
B. C++
There is a package called Objectify which can be used to assist
one in turning C++ classes into Tcl object types.
If you wish to use C++ with Tcl then you must have your main()
in a source file that is compiled with a C++ compiler; this will
ensure that the necessary C++ pre-main initialization code is
executed.
You can call tcl and tk routines (or other C code) routines from C++
provided that the function prototypes avoid C++ name mangling by using
the C++ linkage specification :
extern "C" ... prototype ...
Fortunately, tcl.h and tk.h will provide these specifications when
compiled with a C++ compiler and so you can just use them directly.
You can construct your main using normal tcl and tk routines,
or use tkMain.c and tkAppInit.c with minor modifications. Ken Yap's
patch, obtainable from
<URL:ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/tcl/alcatel/distrib/tk3.2forC++.patch>, is a
patch that allows tk 3.2 main.c and other extension routines to be
compiled with a C++ compiler. Thanks to Ken Yap
<URL:mailto:ken@syd.dit.csiro.au> for this code.
C++ functions and static class member functions can be used to
create Tcl command using Tcl_CreateCommand in the normal way.
Non-static member functions cannot be used so simply, Tcl would
have to supply a "this" pointer.
Check out tcl++.h in Extended Tcl. Based on an original
implementation by Parag Patel, it defines a Tcl interpreter class by
which Tcl interpreters can be created as objects under C++.
Mark Diekhans and Karl Lehenbauer have used this, in
combination with the handle facility in Extended Tcl, to build Tcl
commands around C++ classes.
The Tcl handle facility provides a way to manage table entries
that can be referenced by a textual handle from Tcl code. This is
provided for applications that need to create data structures in one
command, return a reference (i.e. pointer) to that particular data
structure and then access that data structure in other commands. An
example application is file handles.
A handle table was built containing pointers to the instances
of a class that were to be accessed from Tcl, say a class `foo_cl', and
then a "new" command defined that created an instance of that class and
returned a Tcl handle to it. The handle could then passed among Tcl
commands that accessed each member function. The handle is in effect
an explicit `this' pointer.
For example:
set obj [foo_cl::new]
foo_cl::baz $obj "Hello world"
foo_cl::delete $obj
It's not totally object-oriented, but it's still very usable.
C. Modula-3
Norman Ramsey <URL:mailto:elan.uucp!nr> says:
A long time back, Eric Muller posted a Modula-3 interface to
the C Tcl library. I wrote down a Modula-3/Tcl interface that used
Modula-3 types rather than C types, and that used objects to build
closures for commands. I wrote part of the implementation but never
finished it. I have mailed copies to <URL:mailto:carroll@udel.edu>,
who asked the question, and I will post them if there seems to be general
interest.
Also, there is an interface between Tk and Modula-3 that is a part
of the Modula-3 archives on gatekeeper.dec.com, and Tcl-DP and
Modula-3 have been merged.
D. Eiffel
<URL:mailto:stephan@cs.tu-berlin.de> (Stephan Herrmann) says:
... [the tclish package provides] the marriage of two very different
principles by means of combining two programming languages into a
hybrid program architecture.
There are three classes for the user - tcl interpretor, tk application,
and tk window. See <URL:ftp://hepunx.rl.ac.uk/pub/eiffel/tclish> for
details.
E. Ada
<URL:mailto:dennis@dennis.cs.colorado.edu> (Dennis Heimbigner)
introduced an adatcl package which gives Ada programmers access to Tcl
interpreters. (See "tcl-faq/part4") for details of the package.
F. Perl
In the past, efforts by Dov Grobgeld
<URL:mailto:dov@menora.weizmann.ac.il> and Guenther Schreiner
<URL:mailto:guenther@ira.uka.de> were made to develop at least 2
Perl 4 to Tcl/Tk interfaces.
More effort has occured in the Perl 5 environment, where an extension
to allow Perl 5 to directly access the Tcl C API, as well as an extension to
allow the ability to do Tk programming without a Tcl interpreter involved at
all are available.
These packages can be ftp'd from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN)
- a series of ftp sites which keep the latest and greatest archives of Perl
code in sync. See <URL:http://www.perl.com/perl/CPAN/CPAN.html> for
a pointer to CPAN, and follow the links to find the Tcl related Perl packages.
G. Prolog
The package ProTcl is an interface between Prolog and Tcl/Tk.
It works best with ECLiPSe, but the foreign interface of SICStus and Quintus
is also provided. The interface is dynamically loaded into a Prolog process
and it gives access to Tcl commands and to handling Tk events. It is also
possible to call Prolog from Tcl, handle Tk events in Prolog and to
pass Prolog variables back to Tcl. See
<URL:http://www.ecrc.de/eclipse/html/protcl.html> for more details.
H. Other
Work at consolidating Python and Tk is underway - discussion
is proceeding in comp.lang.python on this front as the code is primarily
Python.
Some work relating to the Fresco CORBA interpreter has resulted in a
Tcl-based interpreter which interacts with that environment.
Some work on Tk bindings for the Dylan language are being investigated
as well as Tk bindings for Sather.
Duncan Sinclair <URL:mailto:sinclair@dcs.gla.ac.uk> has details of a
hack into wish.c some hooks for a Tk to any language system, and has been
using it for communication with functional languages such as Haskell and
Lazy ML. A paper, plus sample code, is available by ftp from
<URL:ftp://ftp.dcs.gla.ac.uk/pub/glasgow-fp/authors/Duncan_Sinclair/fumx.*>.
The InterLanguage Unification project is a system that promotes
software interoperability via interfaces. It has the ability to allow
Common Lisp, ANSI C, C++, Modula 3 to interact and plans to add Python,
Tcl, and GNU Emacs-Lisp shortly.
Of course the Wafe application environment is designed to make
it easier to do X like applications from within several languages using
Tk as a basis.
There are several interfaces to allow one to interface with SQL
though some are specific to a database such as Oracle.
There is an interpretor for Silicon Graphics machines for SGI's
GL language.
There is an interface to WOOL.
For more details on the above efforts, (see also "tcl-faq/part4").
------------------------------
From: FAQ General information
Subject: -V- What training material is available?
A. Books, Training courses, etc.
1. Title: Tcl and the Tk Toolkit
Author: John K. Ousterhout <URL:mailto:ouster@tcl.eng.sun.com>
ISBN: 0-201-63337-X
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Publication date: April, 1994
Third printing: 1994
The book primarily covers Tcl 7.3 and Tk 3.6. A German translation of
this book, titled _Tcl und Tk_, with the ISBN of 3-89319-793-1, is also
available.
In regards to questions about new revisions to the book, John
has indicated that a new revision would be unlikely to appear before
the end of 1996.
2. Title: Exploring Expect
Author: Don Libes <URL:mailto:libes@nist.gov>
Subtitle: A Tcl-Based Toolkit for Automating Interactive Applications
Publisher: O'Reilly and Associates, Inc
Publication date: 1994
ISBN: 1-56592-092-2
Pages: 602
Email orders: <URL:mailto:order@ora.com>
HTTP orders: <URL:http://nearnet.gnn.com/gnn/bus/ora/ordering/index.html>
Credit card orders (M-F 6am-6pm PST): (800) 889-8969 / (707) 829-0515
Mailing Address: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
103A Morris Street
Sebastopol, CA US 95472
For all of you who thought that the Expect man page was too long and too
terse at the same time, this book provides relief. "Exploring Expect"
is an introduction and comprehensive tutorial to Expect. Numerous
examples are provided and explained, demonstrating how to save you time
and money. Example topics include how to write patterns, do signal
handling, use Expect as a telnetable daemon, and use Expect with Tk and
other Tcl extensions.
The book also includes an innovative introduction to Tcl - if you've
had trouble using Tcl before, all of a sudden, it will make a lot more
sense. And while Exploring Expect concentrates primarily on using
Expect with Tcl, programmers attempting to automate interactive
programs using C, Perl, Python, or any other language will find this
book helpful because many of the concepts underlying Expect-like
programming are common to all languages.
Expect book description:
<URL:http://www.ora.com/www/item/expect.desc.html>
Front cover art:
<URL:http://www.ora.com/www/item/expect.gif>
Errata sheet:
<URL:ftp://ftp.cme.nist.gov/pub/expect/errata>
Exploring Expect remains in the first edition. There have only been a
few corrections and updates so they have been easily incorporated in
new printings. The last time Don had to make any corrections was in the
third printing.
Exploring Expect was originally based on Tcl 7.3 and 7.4 alpha.
However, the book correctly describes 7.5 as well. Almost all of the
recent changes in Tcl were under the cover - which is not the focus of
Don's book, so it is still accurate.
Interesting story time: Don only needed to make one change in the book
when Tcl 7.4 came out of alpha. Tcl 7.4 added checking for overflow
which was something his random number generator didn't like. So he
changed the constants in the 2nd printing to avoid this problem.
Later, Ousterhout got enough grief from people that he later changed
it back. So it turned out that Don really hadn't needed to make any
changes to the book after all.
The book was also based on Tk 3.6 and Tk 4 alpha. Don's book doesn't go
into enough depth on Tk that this really matters - in fact, he only
needed to mention a difference between Tk 3 and Tk 4 at one point. So
the text is still accurate. He does, however, have a lot of real code
and some of the Tk examples no longer work quite right because of the
way bind changed. However, all of those examples come with Expect and
they are Tk4-ized, so it shouldn't be a significant problem. The text
describing the examples is still correct.
3. Title: Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk
Author: Brent Welch <URL:mailto:bwelch@eng.sun.com>
Publisher: Prentice Hall
ISBN: 0-13-182007-9
Date: 1995
This book discusses Tcl 7.4 and Tk 4.0. It features
about 5000 lines of Tcl and 2400 lines of C code, which come with the
book on a floppy. The book describes and summaries all the Tcl and
Tk commands and widgets. There are longer examples that put together
small applications. The sections on C programmer are not intended to
be complete references to the C interfaces - use the man pages for
that information. A draft of the book - except for the index - is
available as <URL:ftp://parcftp.xerox.com/pub/sprite/welch/tkbook.ps.gz>.
Also, see <URL:http://www.sunlabs.com/%7Ebwelch/bwelch.html> for links to
pages about the book.
4. Title: How to Manage Your Network Using SNMP: The Networking Management
Practicum,
Author: Marshall T. Rose <URL:mailto:mrose@dbc.mtview.ca.us>, Keith McCloghrie
Publisher: Prentice Hall,
Publication Date: 1995
ISBN: 0-13-141517-4.
Describes a Tcl-based SNMP API, and contains several example programs.
5. Title: Tcl and Tk reference manual
Editor: Donald Barnes, Marc Ewing <URL:mailto:marc@redhat.com>, Erik Troan
Publisher: Red Hat Software, Inc.
Publication Date: September 1995
Size: 645 pages - 7" x 9", Lay-Flat Binding
ISBN: 1-885329-08-3
LoC: QA76.73.T44
Red Hat Software
25 Sylvan Road South
Wesport, CT 06880
(800) 546-7274
(203) 454-2582
(203) 454-5500 (FAX)
E-mail: <URL:mailto:sales@redhat.com>
Price: $24.95
A printed copy of the Tcl 7.4/Tk 4.0 man pages, along with a table of
contents, standard index, and permutated index has been published.
6. Title: Distributed objects : neural network architecture rendered in
Tcl-DP and Tcl widgets
Author: Mark A. Stewart
Publisher: Thesis (M.S.) University of Alabam at Birmingham
Publication Date: 1995
LoC: QA76.27.T41
The topic is computer network architectures and neural networks.
7. Title: Graphical applications with Tcl and Tk
Author: Eric F. Johnson
Publisher: M&T Books
Publication Date: 1996
ISBN: 1-55851-471-6
WWW info: <URL:http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/efjohnson/tclbook.htm>
The book covers Tcl 7.5b1 and Tk 4.1b1. It focuses on creating
cross-platform graphical applications. Windows and Unix development
is covered. The book comes with a CD-ROM containing Tcl/Tk sources, a
binary Tcl/Tk version for Windows, the book's source code and Tcl
freeware.
8. Title: The Visualization Toolkit: An Object-Oriented Approach to 3D Graphics
Author: Will Schroeder, Ken Martin, Bill Lorensen
Publisher: PTR Prentice Hall
Publication Date: 1996
ISBN: 0-13-199837-4
The book contains software and information to assist you in transforming
data into 3D graphics. The book covers key algorithms, modeling, and
techniques for various types of visualization. The CD-ROM contains
400 megabytes of software, data images, and documentation.
The software runs on Unix, Windows 95, and Windows NT.
9. Many people learn Tcl/Tk from reading the 'man' pages. These files,
a part of the source code distribution, are mentioned in Dr. Ousterhout's
book as 'the reference manual'. If the person who installed Tcl/Tk at
your site did a build of the executables and then ran the 'make install'
step described in the source code distribution, the man pages are probably
installed on your system in a directory. Contact your system adminstrator
for more details. Also, (see "tcl-faq/part2") for a number of WWW resources
which provide additional information about many aspects of Tcl and it's
extensions. See the other FAQs mentioned in this document for additional
help, pointers to software examples, and other resources from which you
can draw help. For instance, (see "tcl-faq/bibliography/part1") for details
of published books, magazine and journal articles, proceedings papers, and
thesises relating to the Tcl family of languages.
(See "tcl-faq/commercial-uses/part3") for details of classes offered
commercially.
10. A physical copy of the Tcl / Tk distributed documentation as at one time
available at the Northside Copy Central in Berkeley under the name "TCL" and
is titled "Tcl/Tk Documents". Northside Copy Central is at 1862 Euclid
with a phone of (510) 849-9600. It costs approx. $15-$20 for the book in
a spiral bound, pink cover, clear plastic front and back format.
11. Computerized Processes Unlimited has a combined Tcl/Tclx reference
manual for sale. (See "commercial-uses/part3") for more information.
12. The USENIX Association <URL:http://www.usenix.org/> not only
sponsers various conferences and workshops of possible interest to the
Tcl and Tk communities, but also offers the proceedings from those
sessions for sale to members. See
<URL:http://www.usenix.org/cgi-bin/lookbib.pl?raw=false&TERMS=tcl> for
an example of just some of the articles that have been published by the
USENIX Association.
13. For a free resource, see <URL:http://www.cis.rl.ac.uk/proj/TclTk/>
which is the TclTk Cookbook, a living document describing the use
of Tcl and Tk across platforms.
---
14. (See "commercial-uses/part3") for information about training
courses by Computerized Processes Unlimited, NeoSoft Communications
Services, and ATT training groups.
15. The first Tcl local users' group has formed in the Dallas Texas
area. The group will be known as "Tcl Dallas" or "Tcl'D" for short.
"Tcl Dallas" is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of
the Tcl language along with its many extensions. As a local users
group, "Tcl Dallas" supports the regional Tcl developer community by
hosting special events and providing a local forum for the discussion
of Tcl issues. For further information, see their WWW page at
<URL:http://www.tcltk.com/TclDallas/>.
B. Time-related seminars, conferences, sessions.
1. There have been, in the past, seminars and BOFs/SIGs at Usenix, the MIT X
conference, and other conferences taught by John Ousterhout and others
on Tcl and Tk.
(See also "tcl-faq/part2") for the URL to the slides from the most recent
of these presentations by John.
If you are planning on attending a conference, check for these types
of activies, as well as sessions dealing with applicatons of Tcl/Tk.
Let the others in <URL:news:comp.lang.tcl> know about the event so that others
might also attend. For that matter, consider scheduling a Tcl/Tk
event yourself if you are so inclined!
2. University of Maryland Baltimore County has been holding a course titled
CMSC491C - Special Topics in Computer Science - Scripting Languages.
This is an introduction to scripting languages with an emphasis on Perl and
Tcl, but also mentioning sed, awk, etc. Taught by Bob Tarr.
Call (410) 455-2336 (Continuing
Education Department) to sign up as a special non-degree candidate.
Info provided by <URL:mailto:finin@cs.umbc.edu> (Tim Finin).
3. The Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Computational Systems,
at the Australian National University, Canberra Australia, has been
offering Introductory and Advanced Tcl/Tk courses. The first course,
"An Introduction To the Tcl Language and Tk Toolkit", was held from
29th November to 1st December 1995. Courses will be conducted on a
regular basis.
For the latest information, see
<URL:http://pastime.anu.edu.au/tcl/Courses.html>.
4. The 1996 USENIX Tcl/Tk Workshop will be held in Monterey,
California, USA from July 10-13, 1996. It is targeting active researchers
and developers in the Tcl/Tk community. Paper and demo submissions have
a deadline of March 5, 1996. Registration information
will be available by April. See <URL:news:comp.lang.tcl> or
<URL:news:comp.org.usenix> and <URL:http://www.usenix.org/tcl96.html>
for more information, or send email to <URL:mailto:info@usenix.org>.
The workshop is to be chaired by Mark Diekhans <URL:mailto:markd@sco.com> and
Mark Roseman <URL:mailto:roseman@cpsc.ucalgary.ca>.
IMPORTANT DATES for the fourth annual Tcl/Tk Workshop.
* Deadlines for paper and demo submissions: March 5, 1996
* Notification of acceptance: April 16, 1996
* Camera-ready copy due: May 28, 1996
------------------------------
From: FAQ General information
Subject: -VI- Where do I report problems, bugs, or enhancements
There are two alternatives for reporting bugs and problems.
The first is the Usenet news group <URL:news:comp.lang.tcl>, an unmoderated
Usenet newsgroup, created for the discussion of the Tcl programming language
and tools that use some form of Tcl, such as: the Tk toolkit for the X window
system, Extended Tcl, and expect. Please note that postings of source
code to <URL:news:comp.lang.tcl> does not automatically get archived on
ftp.neosoft.com (in the User Contributions archive site) - if you want
your code to be available, you will need to make arrangements with the
folks there to have it added. See elsewhere in the FAQ for more details on
the user contrib archive site.
The second would be to report problems, suggestions, new
ideas, etc. directly to the author. Email to
<URL:mailto:John.Ousterhout@eng.sun.com> (John Ousterhout)
will reach the author of Tcl and Tk - to find the email
address of the authors of other Tcl/Tk based programs,
(see "tcl-faq/part4"), and (see "tcl-faq/part5").
When you report bugs, be sure you mention what hardware and operating
system you are using (e.g. Pentium 100 mhz running Linux version x.y.z), what
version of tcl/tk you are using (e.g. Tcl 7.5b3/Tk 4.1b3), what extensions
you have added (e.g. tclX, dash, plus, itcl, tix, and blt), and any local
modifications you have made. Then, provide if possible either a small piece
of code, or a URL (e.g. <URL:ftp://ftp.myhost.com/some/path/stuff.tcl> )
to some code which demonstrates the problem. Either have the code explicitly
mention here's what I thought would happen, or in your description mention
that. Also, if something used to work, mention which configuration you
used.
If you have software from which you think someone 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 folks know.
There are FAQ maintainers for each of these areas as well as the
<URL:news:comp.lang.tcl.annouce> newsgroup you can use. Source code
postings of reasonable length (and reasonable has been pretty large)
are acceptable, BUT postings are not automatically archived on the
neosoft ftp site. It is always worthwhile to submit your contributions
to the ftp site so more folk in the future can benefit from your
experience.
------------------------------
End of comp.lang.tcl Frequently Asked Questions (1/5)
*****************************************************