[http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/lidokaroma/img/lidokaroma.png]

a.k.a. [etdxc]. [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/lidokaroma/]
I've worked in IT for over 20 years and since 1989 as a
contract analyst/programmer/developer/etc. I've been developing in Tcl/Tk since 
the late 90s.

My experience is (mostly) in Unix and Microsoft evironments, largely with 
database development. 

I live in the pretty city of Bristol in the south west of England,
with my wonderful wife, three beautiful children, strange cat, and more recently a hugely clever lurcher.

Toys include [dxcClips] (available from www.download.com) and [dxcChanges]

2006/Dec/07 I've just been reading [About Tcl and popularity] and added some notes, but because I've been microwaving my red wine (it's xmas time again) I accidentally hit ESC (it happens... sometimes too often!) and I thought that it would be best adding my comments here instead.

About publishing Tcl books: Because Tcl is so easy to learn most coders would only need to buy one book to learn the fundamentals, and get their thinking 'straight'. The language would probably fit into the methodology they use without any shoehorning, it did mine. I can't see that a small number of new books will make an impact in the market place or successfully promote the language when compared with the sheer quantity of new books produced for the more popular languages. However, revisions of existing books to bring them up to date would certainly be useful. 

I think the easiest way to get new users interested in the language is to publish useful quality programs widely, to use sites like www.download.com and www.tucows.com. A lot of freeware/shareware sites 'feed' off the bigger ones, so that within a half/year the software is almost global. If within a published program the Splash screen/About window/Help notes/Credits page mentions the use of Tcl/Tk, with a reference to the wiki/c.l.t/home page, then word will get around. E-books attract a large number of downloads, as do complete copies of open source languages, libraries and packages, so when announcing a new program, package, meta widget why not do it to the biggest audience you can. If new versions of Tcl/Tk/Tclkit/Freewrap could be downloaded from these sites I'm sure interest would rise. 

I'm sure that if e-books of version specific manuals, ebooks of tips and tricks, selected abridged pages from the wiki, white papers, etc. could be downloaded , it would raise awareness (and the profile of the language) and show people what the language can do. I would bet the personal wiki would go down a treat. Some of the games/mail/ftp/WDs notebook/Newspoint programs are wasted by being kept within the world of 'The internets best kept secret'. Perhaps one of the problems is that while Tcl/Tk is 'The internets best kept secret' the next best kept secret is the support given willingly by the community to others free of charge. Get it out there, but give credit back to the language. Add links to the dev home page, ActiveState, the wiki, and c.l.t.  Rather than being hidden in obscurity - publish and be damned!

Additionally, it would make finding sources/packages/programs a lot easier for the community !

Please feel free to correct me on this, or just tell me their recipe for instant mulled wine.

Rant over. 

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[Category Person]