Version 28 of Beginning Tcl
Updated 2014-04-09 03:11:57 by pooryorick
Tcl and its extensions, Tk and Expect, are powerful tools that allow you greater control over your systems, and easier control of interactions between systems.
This the primary starting point for those looking to learn Tcl. Is there a topic you feel should be discussed but which often isn't? Add it to one of the categories below!
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.
See Also
- Beginning Tk
- Learn to wield the most productive GUI toolkit ever
- Learn to Program
- The general art of programming introduced from a Tcl perspective
- Tcl Commands
- manpage extracts for selected commands - and extra notes that are not in the manual
- Advanced Tcl
- topics which usually come up after someone has a grasp on the basics of Tcl and Tk
- comp.lang.tcl FAQ
- contains a list of tutorials
Preliminaries
- Show me an example
- a step-by-step walthrough of a first Tcl program
Where to Ask for Help
It's always a good idea to search this wiki and the Internet for answers first. If good information is not to be found, the following resources provide information on where and how to ask for help.
- comp.lang.tcl
- one of the best places to ask for help. Make sure to read the introduction and posting style guide first.
John Ousterhout's Materials
John Ousterhout, the creator of Tcl, produced various tutorials, guides, and references, and also the classic book on Tcl.
- An Introduction to Tcl Scripting
- based on John's powerpoint tutorials
- Writing Tcl-Based Applications in C
- based on John's powerpoint tutorials
- Building User Interfaces with Tcl and Tk
- based on John's powerpoint tutorials
- Scripting: Higher Level Programming for the 21st Century
- IEEE Computer Magazine, 1998-03. The article that layed out Ousterhout's Dichotomy
Books
- Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk
- (in print)
Tutorials
Beginner Introductions
- tcltutorial
- a community tutorial
- Beginning Tcl
- resources at the beginner level
- Talk to me, Tcl
- how to learn using an interactive Tcl
Technical Introductions
- Intermediate Tcl
- resources at the intermediate level
- Advanced Tcl
- resources at the advanced level
Curricula
- Tcl Learning Exercises
- A list of exercises, in order of difficulty
Exercises
- What's My Line?
- a game-like exercise where the goal is to guess the output of the Tcl script
- Programming Language Examples Alike Cookbook
- Reimplements in other languages, including Tcl, examples from the O'Reilly Perl Cookbook
Learning Programs
- TclRobots
- a programming game in which one writes Tcl programs to control a robot which must survive a battle with other robots
- Tcl Tutor
- a free, downloadable , multi-platform tutorial for Tcl
- Tcltalk
- an interactive learning tool and development environment for Tcl/Tk
Documentation
C API
Instructional Pages, Beginner
This is a selection of pages deemd to be particularly intructive for learning Tcl idioms and usage. The Tk page has a similar section specifically for Tk usage
- Bag of Algorithms
- useful code examples
- Sample Math Programs
- really simple examples of using programming to solve math problems
- The infinity trick
- working with "infinity" in expressions
- Tcl examples
- more Tcl examples
- Uwe Klein
- a bunch of fairly simple Tcl and Tk examples
- Sample math programs
- very simple examples if you have some math background
- Tcl/Tk Engineering Manual
- by John Ousterhout ,engineering style guidelines for coding Tcl code
Instructional Pages ,Intermediate
- Keith Vetter
- A large number of very interesting but small programs
The Art
- A critical mindset about policy
- A discussion about what belongs in the scripting language, and what belongs in the lower-level implementation
Resources
- Contents
- contents of this wiki
- Tcl Editors
- how to edit the text of a program
- gotcha
- a variety of illustrative code snippets
- Practice Scripts
- A list of scripts people have written to learn Tcl
- Richard Suchenwirth
- a rich variety of Tcl examples dealing with Unicode, dates, graphics, and more
- Dirty Dozen
- a selection of web resources related to Tcl
- Tcl Articles
- a list of articles about Tcl
- Teaching Tcl
- a discussion about teaching Tcl (not really for those learning Tcl)
- Simple Tcl Code << 3D Egg - glx docs
- short and simple learning examples of oo, socket, and coroutine
- Expect Exceeds Expectations ,Cameron Laird ,2002
- Argues that Expect is the one language you most need to learn
Training
- IT-Schulungen.com (German)