Version 3 of A funny cookbook

if 0 {Richard Suchenwirth 2003-06-26 - Re-reading an old book on DR Logo, I found this funny little program that produces random recipes (please correct my re-translations to English where needed). Small as it is, it can produce 900 different recipes, though they might not be to everybody's taste... but may be helpful when we teach programming to children?

The basic idea is to pick an arbitrary element from a list, which is easily done in Tcl with the following:}

 proc ? L {
  lindex $L [expr {int(rand()*[llength $L])}]
 }

if 0 {This is used several times in:}

 proc recipe {} {
   set a {
     {3 eggs} {an apple} {a pound of garlic}
     {a pumpkin} {20 marshmallows}
   }
   set b {
     {Cut in small pieces} {Dissolve in lemonade} {Bury in the ground for 3 months}
     {Bake at 300 degrees} {Cook until tender}
   }
   set c {parsley snow nutmeg curry raisins cinnamon}
   set d {
      ice-cream {chocolate cake} spinach {fried potatoes} rice {soy sprouts}
   }
   return "   Take [? $a].
   [? $b].
   Top with [? $c].
   Serve with [? $d]."
 }

if 0 {And as modern programs always need a GUI, here is a minimal one that appears when you source this file at top level, and shows a new recipe every time you click on it:}

 if {[file tail [info script]]==[file tail $argv0]} {
   package require Tk
   pack [text .t -width 40 -height 5]
   bind .t <1> {showRecipe %W; break}
   proc showRecipe w {
     $w delete 1.0 end
     $w insert end [recipe]
   }
   showRecipe .t
 }

TV Good, me like. Looks like the beginning of a little expert system. Maybe one would want ot value the various combinations and suggest a taste base..

Arts and crafts of Tcl-Tk programming