Tcl-URL! Weekly Tcl News and Links (September 17)

Larry and his crew update thousands of links on hundreds of Wiki pages,
scores of Tcl-ers are in transit to and from the Vancouver conference,
8.4.0 makes its public release--it's been a busy week.


QOTW:  "OTOH, tcl is so flexible that you feel constrained in other languages."
    http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Things+to+consider+nomobaloney%40hotmail.com&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=6358834.0209121328.79478e81%40posting.google.com&rnum=1

"All praise Kevin Kenny for TIP#7!"  Donal K. Fellows

"Eventually, XML+XSLT will almost be as good as what IBM invented and
standardized 15 years ago, but which was considered 'too complicated'. :-)"
                                     Darren New   


    Lots of discussion this week on "Things to consider for future Tcl
    enhancement".  Features lacking, present, or "sort of" there, and
    what else we need to make Tcl even better. Michael Tiller leads off
    with:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=slrnaobqbn.qnc.xx087%40freenet9.carleton.ca&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26group%3Dcomp.lang.tcl
    
    Highlights include Donal's summary:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&frame=right&rnum=31&thl=1017811500,1017785257,1017416912,1017410325,1016953452,1017821044,1017812887,1017743954,1017726323,1017725563,1017500209,932738815&seekm=slrnans19k.66r.johnm%40alumni.eecs.berkeley.edu#link35
    
    ...and Chang Li's take on what we could use from Python:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&frame=right&rnum=41&thl=1017500209,932738815,1017322550,1016934670,932740266,932686001,1017809803,1017720624,1017806945,1017560107,1017539890,932733866&seekm=pJmg9.774%24z8.275595%40reader1.news.jippii.net#link49
    
    Chang Li also suggests a "cexpr" with more C-like notation to replace
    or augment "expr".
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=am4q28%24p06%242%40srv38.cas.org&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26group%3Dcomp.lang.tcl
        http://www.elf.org/etc/tcl-expr-patch.html
    surfaces as an interesting patch to the core of Tcl that extends
    the expr command with many of the features discussed in the thread. 
    Of course, I couldn't let this pass without mentioning
        http://www.wildopensource.com/larry-projects/others.html
    with yet another way to extend expr using "compute".
    
    Michael Schlenker adds functionality from Unix to Windows:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=3D85148E.6090204%40ActiveState.com&prev=/groups%3Fdq%3D%26num%3D25%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26group%3Dcomp.lang.tcl%26start%3D25
    
    DB and George Staplin discuss use of anti-aliased fonts:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=m38z24aq36.fsf%40localhost.localdomain&prev=/groups%3Fdq%3D%26num%3D25%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26group%3Dcomp.lang.tcl%26start%3D25
    
    and a lively discussion about how Tcl interacts with various window
    managers:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=3D824859.8050205%40the.footer.invalid&prev=/groups%3Fdq%3D%26num%3D25%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26group%3Dcomp.lang.tcl%26start%3D50
    Jeff's Hobb's summary is especially worth reading:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=3D824859.8050205%40the.footer.invalid&prev=/groups%3Fdq%3D%26num%3D25%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26group%3Dcomp.lang.tcl%26start%3D50
    
    Announcements:
    Toucan 1.2.1 is out there to help you develop apps for your Palm
    Pilot using Tcl:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&start=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=comp.lang.tcl&selm=pgpmoose.200209110620.32626%40despot.non.net
    
    The latest and greatest SnackAmp, using the snack extension to play
    most anything worth listening to.
        http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&start=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=comp.lang.tcl&selm=j_xf9.850%24TX5.155472%40news1.east.cox.net
    
On the Wiki:
    The clearing house page has new info (and a lot of old info well
    worth reviewing):
        http://mini.net/tcl/1299
    
    Packed decimal arithmetic and other options for really _big_ numbers:
        http://mini.net/tcl/3045
    
    Rather not use Tk, but still like Tcl?    
        http://mini.net/tcl/1157
    
    The GUI Builder page has been updated:
        http://mini.net/tcl/4056.
    
    How to contribute software to the Tcl family?
        http://mini.net/tcl/1250
    
    Displaying html text? 
        http://mini.net/tcl/2335
    
    Techniques for the Internet (and more):
    - Tclhttpd is the nifty Tcl application that serves as an Internet server,
      but is also a handly framework, if you need an application with an HTTP 
      interface, <http://wiki.tcl.tk/2085>;
    - Not only client/server but also the peer-to-peer style of communication
      is possible. A bunch of techniques and complete solutions at 
      <http://wiki.tcl.tk/1077>; and its companion, <http://wiki.tcl.tk/1228>;.
    - Even television networks have made into the Wiki, though perhaps this 
      poem based on a British puppet series, will inspire only Tcl'ers 
      with small children, <http://wiki.tcl.tk/4048>;.
    
    Places that collect Tcl/Tk applications and extensions:
    - As the Neosoft archive will soon disappear from the Internet,
      Procplace is the new archive to search. Some assistence wanted though,
      <http://wiki.tcl.tk/1642>;
    - Steve Cassidy is working hard to get CANTCL (as described in TIP #55) 
      up and running, have a look at <http://wiki.tcl.tk/1961>;
    
    Programming tips and tricks:
    - Need to set an environment variable under UNIX or Windows? This
      venerable page tells the story, <http://wiki.tcl.tk/706>;
    - Use a certain style whenever you program, the classic style guide for
      Tcl is described here: <http://wiki.tcl.tk/708>; together with all the
      good reasons as yo why to adopt "a" consistent style.
    - You may need more precision than offered by a "double", then Mpexpr
      is your friend. Or a Tcl-only solution.
      <http://wiki.tcl.tk/1358>; and <http://wiki.tcl.tk/683>;
    
    We can not leave without some graphics:
    - Richard Suchenwirth came up with a small chess game, for two (human)
      players and perhaps, when the Tkchat gets an update, for any one to
      watch:
      <http://wiki.tcl.tk/4070>;
    and if that interests you, check out
        http://mini.net/tcl/4071
    
    - Building a graphical user-interface is supported by various
      applications, <http://wiki.tcl.tk/4056>; offers an overview
    - Scrollbars are only useful when needed, a basic approach to this
      can be found in <http://wiki.tcl.tk/950>;
    

Everything you want is probably one or two clicks away in these pages:

    The "Welcome to comp.lang.tcl" message by Andreas Kupries
        http://www.purl.org/net/tcl-welcome

    Larry Virden maintains a comp.lang.tcl FAQ launcher
        http://www.purl.org/NET/Tcl-FAQ/

    Brent Welch maintains "The Tcl Developer Xchange", a highly
    organized resource center of documents and software with
    provisions for individuals to "set up a link to your software
    and update ... as you release new versions."
        http://www.tcl-tk.net/resource/
    The Xchange sponsor also keeps info to convince your boss Tcl
    is a good thing
        http://www.tcl-tk.net/scripting/      

    The Tcl'ers Wiki is a huge, dynamic, collaboratively edited repository
    of documentation, examples, tutorials and pontifications on all things Tcl.
        http://wiki.tcl.tk/0
    For the ideal overview of the topics about Tcl most likely to
    interest a newcomer, see "Arts and Crafts ..."
        http://wiki.tcl.tk/969

    ActiveState Tools maintains a Cookbook of Tcl recipes
        http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Tcl

    NeoSoft has a comp.lang.tcl contributed sources archive
        http://www.neosoft.com/tcl/contributed-software/

    Cameron Laird tracks many Tcl/Tk references of interest
        http://starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/comp.lang.tcl/

    Cetus Links maintains a Tcl/Tk page with verified links
        http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_tcl_tk.html

    Google Groups archives comp.lang.tcl.announce posts
        http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tcl_announce/   

Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here:
  http://purl.org/thecliff/tcl/url.html
--in principal.  In spring 2001, though,
  http://www.ddj.com/topics/tclurl/
  http://tcl.activestate.com:8004/tclurl/
are more consistently up-to-date.  A fourth possibility is                 
  http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Tcl-URL!&as_ugroup=comp.lang.tcl  

Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome.

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