Larry Virden

Biography

My name is Larry W. Virden (aka LV here on the Wiki and lvirden many places around the internet and sometimes seen as lwv on wikit page modifications, etc.).

I am a grandpa! My first grandchild was born to my daughter and son-in-law Nov. 15, 2010. I am so proud of her!

My home web site (comatose) is http://www.purl.org/net/lvirden/ .
My Tcl web site (comatose) is http://www.purl.org/net/tcl-faq/ .
My preferred email address is the lvirden account I have at gmail.com.
My social bookmarks can be found at http://delicious.com/lvirden .

I maintain a blog at http://www.xanga.com/lvirden/ . I don't do a lot of babbling about Tcl or anything else there right now, due to internet access issues. Also, my blog is more about my daily aches and pains, as well as discussions about my kids - even down to one teenager at home, and one in college, still tends to dominate my world-view.

There are a number of other pages I have around the net - such as, for instance, http://myspace.com/lvirden/ or http://facebook.com/lvirden/ . Most of my web pages do not get updated frequently due to my intermittent internet access.

If you have Tcl applications, extensions, routines, documentation, articles, or general information that you provide (freely or commercially) on the internet, add them here at the wiki - the FAQ pages that I maintained in the past are pretty much of use only from a historical point of view. This wiki is a broader catalog, in general, though there are some things in the FAQ that haven't made it here yet.

From home, I typically surf the web via a telnet window on my employer's SPARC Sunblade and using lynx or I use an old version of Mozilla.

At work, during late 2005 I began using a Dell Windows XP system :-( ... most of the time, it is just used as an Exceed (X Window System server) box. I really miss having my Sun at my desk. But, I spend most of my time logged into a Solaris 9 or 10 SPARC. I am primary using either Internet Explorer 6 or Firefox 2 as my work based web browser.

Otherwise, I use what browser is available. I carry a copy of the Windows XP version of FireFox 2.x on a flash drive, just in case I need to use a real web browser

I use Tcl/Tk 8.5rc1 or 8.4.16 (actually, the CVS heads) as much as I can. At work, I use tclkit, ASPN ActiveTcl, and the source codes...

Currently at work I have the following Tcl books on my desk:

My personal copies:

Tcl and the Tk Toolkit
Tcl/Tk in a Nutshell
Web Tcl Complete
Tcl/Tk Programmer's Reference
Programming Expect
CGI Developer's Resource
Effective Tcl/Tk Programming

and I've loaned out, somewhere, my personally signed copy of the incr tcl fromt he ground up book . ARRRGGGG! I can't figure out to whom this was loaned... which means that I don't have it any longer. This is TERRIBLE. I need another copy!

I also have company copies of:

Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk (first edition)
Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk (second edition)

At home, I have copies of

Tcl and the Tk Toolkit
Effective Tcl/Tk Programming
Interactive Web Applications With Tcl/Tk
Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk (fourth edition)

I don't recall but I don't think I have any of the other Tcl books.

Things to think about:

Anyone who has used Tcl and feels it has contributed positively to them should take a little time and contribute back. Contributions can range from making code that you have written available, to submitting Tcl/Tk bug reports, patches to suggesting improvements to http://tcl.sf.net/ , to updating Wiki pages here, etc.

Many times people complain about how Tcl works. It usually sounds like they are expecting Tcl to act in a manner similar to some other language. They generally sound frustrated, sometimes expressing threats to move off to some other language.

Unfortunately, I am uncertain which other language to recommend to them. Some want a scripting language which cares less about white space than Tcl. I suppose I could recommend Perl. Sometimes they seek languages which enforce variable naming or provide tighter scoping. I could probably recommend Python. Unfortunately that requires a particular physical code layout style, but might be able to do the rest of what they want. Or maybe Ruby would better suit them.

I do wish them all good luck finding a scripting language that is fast, flexible, enforcing the level of strictness desired, but permitting one to code in in their own personal style. It's a holy grail that programmers sometimes spend significant portions of their lives seeking. Many will tell you that this language, or that one, has satisfied them. In my own personal quest, I have yet to find the ultimate solution.

I am LV (or lvirden) when I can get on the Tcl'ers Chat Tcl Chatroom.

The TkChat application in tclapps module of tcllib on SourceForge is available for users to join in the fun of the chat room.

Now that the chatroom has moved to IRC , I am no longer able to access it during the work day. Maybe some day there will be web page access again.

I wouldn't even begin to guess how many of the 20000+ pages on this wiki I have either started or contributed a lot to - it would not be modest to mention, I guess... (and if my family ever saw, I would be in big trouble for spending so much time here...)

Some favorite quotes

In a recent DevSource article about dynamic (scripting) languages (with contributions by our own CL and JH), the PHP author (another Larry) had a description that read something like:

"When Larry's not writing or programming, he spends his time napping and daydreaming about napping."

That is likely to be the legacy I leave my kids...

Everything takes longer than it does.

        - proverb

"Never look back unless you are planning to go that way."

  - Henry David Thoreau

"If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z.

      Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
  - Albert Einstein

In a February 1998 interview conducted by Dr. Dobbs Journal with

Larry Wall, the conclusion of the interview is:

DDJ: Do you have any final comments, or typs for aspiring programmers? Or aspiring Perl programmers?

LW: Assume that your first idea is wrong, and try to think through the various options. I think that the biggest mistake people make is latching onto the first idea that comes to them and trying to do that. It really comes to a thing that my folks taught me about money. Don't buy something unless you've wanted it three times. Similarly, don't throw in a feature when you first think of it. Think if there's a way to generalize it, think if it should be generalized. Sometimes you can generalize things too much. I think like the things in Scheme were generalized too much. There is a level of abstraction beyond which people don't want to go. Take a good look at what you want to do, and try to come up with the long-term lazy way, not the short-term lazy way.

LV Just an update - over the past few years, my life has taken several unforseen twists which I am not going to go into here. The results of these twists, however, have taken up the personal time I used to spend wikignoming, cataloging software for the FAQ, etc. As I grow older, it appears to me that instead of having more time for personal interesting and hobbies, I am finding that my time is being filled with doctor visits, etc.

Anyways, I apologize for the decline in contributions. The lack of attention has more to do with issues that exert a higher priority for attention than it does a lack of interest in Tcl...

Ideas for Tcl/Tk

Here's a couple of images for Larry to use when marking broken links in the wiki - stevel Wikignomes - you may feel free to use these as well!

Wrote a bot ("OrphanBot"), will now make a new one for local DB inspection, but got told you might find it interesting anyway: Orphans - gg

Merry Christmas to all! And Happy Holidays as well!

Tcl data files

dkf - 2010-11-16 11:43:35

Congratulations!

Category Person

Tcl'ers