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:
   * Improvements to open source Tcl core (time permitting); changes go through TIP process
   * Host of the Tcl Developers Xchange (http://www.tcl.tk/)
   * Enterprise support infrastructure
   * Professional services for Tcl
   * Development tools: [ActiveTcl], [Komodo], [Tcl Dev Kit], [ActiveTcl Pro Studio]



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