Twenty-fifth Annual Tcl/Tk Conference (2018)

Basic Information

Official website	https://www.tcl-lang.org/community/tcl2018/index.html
When	October 15-19, 2018
Where	Houston, Texas, USA
Chair	Clif Flynt
Program Chair	Andreas Kupries
By	Tcl Association @ http://www.tclcommunityassociation.org/
Proceedings	https://www.tcl-lang.org/community/tcl2018/proceedings.html

Proceedings

Andrea Casotto: THE VOV STORY: TCL IN EDA AND RELIGIOUS WARS
Overview of the author’s background in Tcl and HPC, highlighting efficiency-focused design practices and contributions to Runtime Design Automation and Altair’s HPC projects.

2018 Tcl Conference TCT: Year In Review 2018
Covers 2018 Tcl releases, updates to tcl.tk and tcl-lang.org, TIP developments, and the evolving business and community landscape for Tcl.

Sean Deely Woods: Clay - A Minimalist Toolkit for Sculpting TclOO
Introduces Clay, a TclOO framework for structured data, method delegation, and mixin management, designed to simplify library development for non-Tk applications.

Frank Morlang: SWIMming in Tcl
Describes a Tcl/Tk prototype for SESAR SWIM / FAA SWIM compliance in air traffic management and spacecraft integration, including HTTPS server implementation, XML-based services, and performance optimization using CriTcl.
(presentation slides)

Phil Brooks: Object Lifetimes in Tcl - Uses, Misuses, Limitations
Examines lifetime management techniques in Tcl, comparing trace-based approaches and Tcl_Obj misuse, and advocates for a user-level solution inspired by C++ RAII.

Shannon Noe: CPPTCL - Tcl Extensions in C++
Overview of CPPTCL, providing integration between Tcl and C++ for advanced extension development.

Peter da Silva: Tracking flights with Tcl and SQLite (and a bit of C++)
Details the Birdseye flight tracking system using Tcl, SQLite, and C++, handling real-time aircraft event streams, and addressing scalability and performance issues.
(presentation slides)

Jonathan Cone: Debugging Tcl in Visual Studio Code
Describes the creation of a Tcl debugging extension for Visual Studio Code using the Debug Adapter Protocol, supporting configuration, breakpoints, and session lifecycle management.

Garrett McGrath: Building a Fault-Tolerant Distributed System with zookeepertcl
Demonstrates a Tcl interface to Apache Zookeeper for distributed systems, explaining leader election, znode usage, and daemon-supervised components for fault tolerance.
(presentation slides)

Stephen Huntley, Güne Koru, Yili Zhang, Urmita Banerjee, Leroy Kim, Clif Flynt: A Reboot of the Starpack Build Process for Tcl 8.6 and Beyond
Describes the modernization of Starpack basekit compilation using Tcl tools, simplifying build processes, removing outdated dependencies, and improving stability, maintainability, and platform support.
(presentation slides)

Gunes Koru, Yili Zhang, Urmita Banerjee, Leroy Kim, Clif Flynt, Stephen Huntley: Experiences with Adopting the Tcl/Tk Ecosystem in a University Research Lab Setting
Discusses the adoption of Tcl/Tk in a university lab, comparing desktop and web-based environments, decision-making, and observations on the ecosystem’s benefits for research projects.

Yili Zhang, Stephen Huntley, Urmita Banerjee, Dae-young Kim, Clif Flynt, Gunes Koru: Auto-Updating for Client-Server Software
Describes a Tcl/Tk-based client-server toolkit with an auto-updating mechanism using a driver program to synchronize Starkits and Starpacks on Linux and Windows platforms efficiently.

Urmita Banerjee, Yili Zhang, Gunes Koru, Clif Flynt, Stephen Huntley, Dae-young Kim: Tcl Package for Sqlite3 Database Schema Migration
Presents a Tcl package that manages SQLite database schema migrations, providing automated forward and backward scripts to update or revert schemas while tracking version changes.
(presentation slides)

FlightAware: Sqlbird
Explains the development of Superbird, a Tcl/C caching system for Postgres, and its evolution into SQLbird using SQLite to reduce replication time, improve reliability, and support SQL query translation.
(presentation slides)

Joe Mistachkin: Comdb2: Bloomberg's Highly Available Relational Database System
Highlights Comdb2, a clustered relational database with optimistic concurrency control, transactional support, and SQL expressivity designed for high availability at Bloomberg.

Sean Deely Woods: The Httpd Module and Toadhttpd
Explores the Httpd module in Tcllib and the Toadhttpd web server, emphasizing the evolution from Tclhttpd, incorporation of coroutines/TclOO, and embedding HTTP functionality into applications.

Daniel Baker: Tcl at FlightAware
Describes FlightAware’s use of Tcl, FreeBSD, and PostgreSQL in their FATP stack, highlighting expedience, familiarity, SQL-driven development, and scalable web-centric architecture.
(presentation slides)

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Conference Resources

Audio Stream

https://livestream.com/accounts/26273291/events/8417465

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