Summary
An interactive community project to teach Tcl scripting
See Also
- Advanced Tcl
- topics which usually come up after someone has a grasp on the basics of Tcl and Tk
- Tcl Tutor
- comp.lan.tcl FAQ
- contains a list of tutorials
Description
This page is the basis for a group project to discuss your favorite introductory topics for someone learning Tcl. Is there a topic you feel should be discussed but which often isn't? Also, many beginners are interested in Beginning Tk as it lets them create something impressive with very little work. However, these beginners should make sure they understand the following topics before moving to Tk, since the concepts are, for the most part, foundational infrastructure.
- What is Tcl?
- Show me an example
[Talk to me, Tcl]: how to learn using an [Interactive Tcl%|%interactive Tcl]
- Tcl Editors
- how to edit the text of a program
- What kinds of variables can Tcl scripts use?
- What kinds of variable names can be used in Tcl?
- Tcl variable scope - how does Tcl control when a variable is seen?
- What kinds of data can Tcl scripts use?
- Is there anything I should know before I start coding?
- Is white space significant in Tcl?
- Why can I not place unmatched braces in Tcl comments?
- How can I do math in Tcl?
- How am I supposed to handle errors in Tcl?
- What debugging tools are available to a Tcl programmer?
- How do I read and write files in Tcl?
- How can I get input from a user and then safely make use of it?
- How would I program 'ring around a rosie' - looping constructs?
- How would I reuse my own Tcl code?
- What do I need to do to reuse someone else's Tcl code?
- Concepts of Architectural Design for Tcl Applications
- ?
- I cannot get Tcl (or an extension) to compile
- Setting /bin/sh environment variables in the script
- Tcl Commands
- manpage extracts for selected commands - and extra notes that are not in the manual
- Tcl/Tk Engineering Manual
- by John Ousterhout ,engineering style guidelines for coding Tcl code
The idea here is to either add a topic above, or pick one of these and start writing a bit. Sign the page if you like.
RS: A hint not only for beginners: due to its interactive nature, Tcl itself is a very good teacher. Start up an interactive tclsh (i.e. not specifying a script file). Type commands in, see how it reacts. Make intentional errors (you can hardly break anything). Read the error messages, they're very often very helpful.
LV: I would, however, suggest that they could locate and use tkcon, if tclsh's minimalistic interface is difficult to use. Also, if you are using vanilla tclsh, read up on the history command.