Notices by The Tcl Programming Language (tcltk@fosstodon.org)

@raito @clacke @nixos @tcl
as realistic as using Perl for that purpose, maybe even better. To my knowledge there isn't someone dedicated to NixOS in the Tcl sphere

@pinpox @nixos @tcl @clacke I (@alecui) haven't seen any examples, mostly because from what I have experimented with the integration I haven't found anything that integrates nicely with NixOS (perhaps because it's not quite a popular OS around these parts). From my memory though Nix has official Perl bindings so you could interop through one of the available CPAN modules. You can contribute to the Tcl community in that regard, we encourage your efforts :)

@pinpox @nixos @tcl @clacke @alecui if it helps, here's Tcl2048 packaged in NixOS, maybe this gives you a slight idea

https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/dbab2564bca446ab430741c41f131a826a052f54/pkgs/games/tcl2048/default.nix

@clacke @nixos @tcl Additionally, Tcl makes deployment easier compared to other dynamic languages because they often make you get both the language interpreter and the application scripts onto the target machine. Most dynamic languages provide tools to "compile" everything into a single executable (Tcl has had that too, since about 1993), but we have more advanced technologies such as the Tcl Virtual File System, Starkits and Starpacks to make deployment as easy and reproducible as in #nixos.

@clacke @nixos @tcl Tcl is multi-paradigm, it can be OO, procedural, functional etc. You use the paradigm that best suits your use case and is impartial to all of them.

Another good fit is using Except to test various configurations automatically and report errors should they appear. Even though Tcl has been inspired by shell scripting, it keeps an elegant and simple to grasp syntax and semantics and is more than capable of being used as an interactive shell in and of itself.

#tcltk #nixos

Tcl was designed and "born out of frustration" because John Ousterhout wanted a better language for #EDA (and especially the #VLSI tool Magic). Tcl to this day has a strong foothold in EDA. Tcl was made to be easily embeddable in #C for rapid prototyping, scripted applications, GUIs, and testing. You can find Tcl implementations for almost every operating system and due to it being lightweight it can be also seen in embedded development.

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#Tk is the #GUI extension for #Tcl which allows rapid GUI (graphical user interface) development with a native look and feel, often accomplishing to make a GUI application in half the size of competing GUI frameworks or even less. #TclTk is either pronounced as "tickle teak" or as an initialism, as with Tcl. Tcl/Tk is shipped as the default GUI framework in #Python in the form of #Tkinter with an active user base.

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#TclTk is used by large corporations in the #EDA sphere such as #Xilinx (now #AMD) with their Vivado IDE, as well #Synopsys, Cadence, #Mentor and #Magma. Tcl is also trusted by #Atmel, #Altera, #Intel, #Motorola, #Siemens, #TexasInstruments, #Alcatel, #BMW and other companies invested in the #FPGA and #EDA business.

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Tcl is also used for testing enterprise products through the #Expect extension written by Don Libes. Huge corporations such as #Boeing, BMW, Daimler Chrysler, Lucent, #Oracle and especially #Cisco trust Tcl to test millions of lines of code that end up in their products. Cisco ships Tcl in their IOS products.

Tcl is also trusted by #NASA, Fermi National Laboratories, the ISS, NIST, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the US DoD, among other large companies.

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Tcl has been deployed successfully by Eurocontrol Maastricht UAC, the air traffic control centre responsible for the European backbone air traffic over #Belgium, #Netherlands, #Luxembourg, and Northern #Germany, #Pixar, #Qualcomm, #FlightAware (the world's largest flight tracking data company and a big sponsor of Tcl) and many other companies.

The Tcl programming language is trusted in all kinds of domains, so the question becomes...

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There are several good reasons to use #Tcl.

The most important reason why people use Tcl is that it gets their job done faster. In many cases you can implement applications 5-10x faster with Tcl than with other languages, especially if the application involves GUIs, string-handling, or integration. Once an application is built in Tcl, it can also be evolved rapidly to meet changing needs. The syntax is flexible and can be adapted to each individual's needs.

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With its Tk toolkit, Tcl provides facilities for creating GUIs that are incredibly simple yet remarkably powerful. For example, the Tk canvas widget makes it easy to create displays with graphics, yet it also provides powerful facilities such as bindings and tags. The text widget provides sophisticated hypertext capabilities and more. Tk was designed from the ground up for the rapid development inherent in dynamic programming languages like Tcl.

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Tcl is a very simple language. Experienced programmers can learn Tcl and produce their first interesting application in just a few hours or days. Casual programmers can also learn Tcl quickly. Tcl is often used in situations where experienced programmers create a base set of facilities, and more casual programmers write Tcl scripts to customize those facilities, create business rules, etc. The syntax is easy to understand, yet flexible for everyone's needs.

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Because #TclTk has been in development for 35 years, it has had a long time to get right all those "finishing touches" real applications depend on: rock solid reliability, rich internationalization support, thread safety, high performance, portability, integration, networking support and more. New cutting edge features are being added all the time, but with a special consideration to the backwards compatibility Tcl is renowned for.

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Tcl is unmatched when it comes to integrating with other software. You can easily include Tcl as an embedded scripting language in an application, or make existing #C, #CPP, or #Java code look like it was built right into Tcl. The same features make it easy to use Tcl as a control language for special-purpose hardware or protocols, add a new GUI or network interface to legacy applications, and more, and with Critcl you can run C code compiled on the fly.

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Tcl has a rich and powerful event-driven programming model that makes network programming easy, allowing clients and servers to be created with just a few lines of code. Networking, files, GUI events — all work the same way, making for a consistent, easy to learn and powerful programming style, without relying on extra libraries.

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#TclTk runs on #Windows, #Macintosh, and nearly every imaginable #Unix platform. It provides high-level API's that let you write code that works the same — everywhere — while Tcl/Tk worries about respecting platform differences, such as native look and feel for GUI's.

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Another attractive reason for using #Tcl is the large and helpful community of Tcl users and developers. The Tcl community is a constant source of ideas, free extensions, applications, and technical support.

Finally, Tcl is #OpenSource — freely available, meaning you can do anything you want with it, including modifying it to suit your own needs or incorporating it into commercial products, no strings attached.

Start using #TclTk now!

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#Tcl (also known as Tool Command Language; pronounced as either "tickle" or as an initialism) is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language.

It was made in 1988 by John Ousterhout and it was inspired mainly by #C, #Lisp, #Shell, #Awk and has served as one of the inspirations of #PowerShell and #Python due to its simplicity and elegance.

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