Version 1 of ActiveState of Tcl 2008

Updated 2008-10-22 15:13:39 by cleverly

Notes on Jeff Hobbs ActiveState of Tcl2008 talk.

Reviewed Tcl history...

As of Tcl'2007:

  • September 24-28 New Orleans
  • 8.4.16 was the standard stable version
  • 8.4 now base standard in all distros
  • 5 years since 8.4.0
  • Numerous enhancements and additions
  • Getting long in the tooth
  • 8.5b1 released
  • 8.6 vs 9.0
  • Primary topics: 8.5 finalization, food ...

Reviewed formation/history of the Tcl Core Team

Reviewed Tcl Improvement Proposal (TIPs)...

  • Currently 335 TIPs (divided into process, informational and project TIPs)
  • TIP page for Tcl: http://tip.tcl.tk/

Maintainers:

  • Separate from TCT (though substantial overlap)
  • Maintainers oversee a specific area of the core as defined in TIP #16 (Tcl) and TIP #26 (Tk)
  • Assist, but not soley responsible for fixing bugs, adding docs, etc.
  • Responsible for reviewing code and approving code changes to their area
  • Open to anyone willing to learn the core; New volunteers always welcome

Tcl at ActiveState:

  • Established 1997
  • Current tagline "Dyamic Tools for Dynamic Languages" (Jeff likes older tagline: "Programming for the people" but that doesn't fly as well in the enterprise)
  • Jeff Hobbs and Andreas Kupries hired in 2001
  • Wealth of scripting knowledge at ActiveState; besides Tcl, Perl, Python, XML/XSLT, etc.
  • Acquired by Sophos September 2003; freed in February 2006
  • ActiveStateremains dedicated to dynamic languages--collectively a wealth of knowledge

ActiveState provides the Tcl community with: