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The Birth of Tcl

tcl.tk

81–90 of 105 posts

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#81
post #38
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed as sibling comment mentions there are Tcl fans out there. The guy who created redis has good things to say[0]. With a little evangelism it could maybe stage a comeback. [0] http://antirez.com/articoli/tclmisunderstood.html

Dr. Hipp of SQLite fame likes Tcl. The ginormous test suite is in Tcl.

In addition, the entire Fossil front-end (the SCM used for hosting SQLite) is also written in Tcl, which makes it incredibly easy to edit and extend.

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#82
post #48
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off-topic, but you should be aware that the (((triple parentheses))) are apparently an anti-semitic thing. Just so you know it can be misinterpreted in some contexts x)

Context is everything. I am pretty sure LISP is not Jewish so (((looking at your LISP))) is perfectly fine.

John McCarthy's mom was Jewish.

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#83

I really like Tcl the language and some of the tooling, but certainly not all of it. I kind of wish there was a single reputable website that I could go to for all versions. I don't want something from Source Forge or ActiveState or some random person's website. I'm sure they're all fine, but I'm a lot less sketched out with running Anaconda Python or Java than Tcl. Funny enough, some Python systems include Tcl for t…

TCL has a feature which to me qualifies as a total "What the hell were they thinking?", not unlike the COME FROM command from Brainfuck, except, in a real language. That statement is upvar [1]. Read its description and despair. [1] https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/TclCmd/upvar.html

As the decr example at the very bottom suggests, it’s to allow the equivalent of passing a mutable reference into a function in other languages.

upvar and uplevel seem scary/strange when you read about them, but once you start using them in code, they feel perfectly suited for the task.

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#84

I really like Tcl the language and some of the tooling, but certainly not all of it. I kind of wish there was a single reputable website that I could go to for all versions. I don't want something from Source Forge or ActiveState or some random person's website. I'm sure they're all fine, but I'm a lot less sketched out with running Anaconda Python or Java than Tcl. Funny enough, some Python systems include Tcl for t…

TCL has a feature which to me qualifies as a total "What the hell were they thinking?", not unlike the COME FROM command from Brainfuck, except, in a real language. That statement is upvar [1]. Read its description and despair. [1] https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/TclCmd/upvar.html

The upvar (and uplevel) mechanism is essential for the extensibility of the language and tremendously useful for creating new control constructs.

Think of it as similar to "passing value by reference", for example when you pass the address of a variable in C/C++.

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#85
post #10
post #2

I like Tcl a lot. The design is simple, extremely easy to learn, and yet the code is still maintainable (((looking at you LISP))). Among the scripting languages I've used, I probably liked Tcl the most. I wish it didn't fall out of favor.

Off-topic, but you should be aware that the (((triple parentheses))) are apparently an anti-semitic thing. Just so you know it can be misinterpreted in some contexts x)

When anti-semites or alt-right people or other hate groups decide to adopt an arbitrary, commonly used sign (like, the "ok" symbol [1]), is the correct reaction to stop using that sign, basically giving it to them, or is the correct reaction to use it as much as possible in non-racist/x-ist contexts, to dilute the intended co-option? Honestly I don't really know the answer. I completely understand avoiding it to not have your comment or action taken out of context, as the risk of personal damage is high, but on the other hand I don't feel that society should just "give away" common symbology just because some hate group decides to take it. How can this be fought?

[1]: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/26/us/adl-new-hate-symbols/i...

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#86

The article doesn't discuss how Sun turned away from Tcl and embraced Java instead (understandable since it focuses on Tcl). It's interesting because Sun had the same goals for Tcl as they did for Java (or vice-versa!): " evolve Tcl into a universal scripting language for the Internet ", " allows untrusted scripts to be evaluated safely ", " Tcl plugin, so that Tcl scripts can be evaluated in a Web browser ". Ousterh…

I was the VP of Engineering of Ousterhout's spinout company, Scriptics, and worked for him. I don't know the story of how Sun made the decision but John has a longer History of Tcl here: https://web.stanford.edu/~ouster/cgi-bin/tclHistory.php "At the same time, it became clear that Sun needed to focus its language evangelism around Java, which was released shortly after I arrived at Sun and had become hugely popular.…

In his google talk on the philosophy of software design, he said that the hires who worked out best for him were the ones where he just really enjoyed the conversations with them during the interviews [1]

[1] https://youtu.be/bmSAYlu0NcY?t=3632

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#87

The article doesn't discuss how Sun turned away from Tcl and embraced Java instead (understandable since it focuses on Tcl). It's interesting because Sun had the same goals for Tcl as they did for Java (or vice-versa!): " evolve Tcl into a universal scripting language for the Internet ", " allows untrusted scripts to be evaluated safely ", " Tcl plugin, so that Tcl scripts can be evaluated in a Web browser ". Ousterh…

I was the VP of Engineering of Ousterhout's spinout company, Scriptics, and worked for him. I don't know the story of how Sun made the decision but John has a longer History of Tcl here: https://web.stanford.edu/~ouster/cgi-bin/tclHistory.php "At the same time, it became clear that Sun needed to focus its language evangelism around Java, which was released shortly after I arrived at Sun and had become hugely popular.…

There's definitely a reality split between developers who accept early in their careers that they need to learn SQL and regular expressions and developers who cling to the hope that if they hold on just a few more years they won't be important skills any more.

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#88

I really like Tcl the language and some of the tooling, but certainly not all of it. I kind of wish there was a single reputable website that I could go to for all versions. I don't want something from Source Forge or ActiveState or some random person's website. I'm sure they're all fine, but I'm a lot less sketched out with running Anaconda Python or Java than Tcl. Funny enough, some Python systems include Tcl for t…

TCL has a feature which to me qualifies as a total "What the hell were they thinking?", not unlike the COME FROM command from Brainfuck, except, in a real language. That statement is upvar [1]. Read its description and despair. [1] https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/TclCmd/upvar.html

I love upvar and uplevel.

I once did a web search to see whether there was an equivalent in PHP. I found a thread in at PHP forum, which told a poster that he was a bad person for wanting such a thing. (This was a long time ago, so perhaps I exaggerate. But they did say that PHP was just fine without it.)

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#89
post #34

I love Tcl. I haven't used it in a while as my job scope has changed. I used to write all sort of utilities and throw a little UI on top with Tk. I still keep watch on what happens in that space.

Anyone know if there is a good visual IDE for TK (like VB6 style)? I researched it a long time ago and they were all glitchy and problematic (considering the numerous TK options and managers). I still develop little applets in the console every few years but its a pain in the ass when you do it so rarely since you forget everything you learned the last time.

Re: The Birth of Tcl

#90
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off-topic, but you should be aware that the (((triple parentheses))) are apparently an anti-semitic thing. Just so you know it can be misinterpreted in some contexts x)

When anti-semites or alt-right people or other hate groups decide to adopt an arbitrary, commonly used sign (like, the "ok" symbol [1]), is the correct reaction to stop using that sign, basically giving it to them, or is the correct reaction to use it as much as possible in non-racist/x-ist contexts, to dilute the intended co-option? Honestly I don't really know the answer. I completely understand avoiding it to not…

I am curious as to what most westerners react when they see a Hindu swastika? Is it common knowledge that there's a Hindu/Buddhist swastika or is it percieved as Nazi swastika?
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