Purpose: discuss this Microsoft Windows development environment's pros and cons
Cygwin is a free software package that provides a Unix-like environment on a Windows system. It works with Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, and possibly others. (See the web site.) Cygwin consists of an emulation library and a collection of Unix (and GNU) programs ported to that library, including bash, gcc, and Tcl/Tk. The Unix tools can be used from the bash shell or from the usual Windows command shell, a.k.a. DOS prompt. A version of the XFree86 server for X Windows, with X Windows tools, has been ported to Cygwin. It is distributed separately. Cygwin is free.
http://www.cygwin.com
Yes, but the version included is ported to the Cygwin environment and differs from the official Tcl/Tk code available from <URL: http://www.tcl.tk>. The Cygwin version presumably lags the official releases. On the other hand, you have the opportunety to extend wish or tclsh with your own functionality by linking the cygwin tcl and tk libraries with your C-functions, possibly by using swig. <URL: http://www.swig.org>.
Can anyone answer this?
To build Cygwin executables, use the gcc included in the cygwin package. This applies as well when building the cygwin version of Tcl/Tk. To build normal Windows executables, use the Cygwin gcc with Mingw <URL: http://www.mingw.org>, a version of which is included with cygwin. This configuration can be used to compile the standard Tcl/Tk distribution into a standard Windows executable. See win/README in the Tcl/Tk distribution for details.
Can anyone answer this?
[Is Joe English the resident expert?]