Version 9 of Don Cruickshank
Updated 2006-12-08 00:16:58
a.k.a. etdxc. [L1 ] 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, and strange cat.
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!). 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 1 book to learn the fundamentals and get their thinking 'straight', the language will probably fit into the methodology they use without any shoehorning, it did mine. I can't see that new books are going to promote the language, but revisions would certainly be useful. I think the easiest way to get new users inyerested in the language is to publish useful quality programs widely, to use places like www.download.com, www.tucows.com, etc. A look of freeware/shareware sites 'feed' off the bigger ones so within a year the software is almost global. If in the Splash screen/About window/Help notes/Credits page the mention of Tcl/Tk with a reference to the wiki/c.l.t/home page is made then word gets around. Things which are downloaded a lot are eBooks, so if the version specific help.chm is uploaded when a new version is released then that will be something. However quality is required. Some of the UI's I've seen lack imagination. Great things are possible using Tk even under mswindows. Where an individual wants web page effects, try using the canvas. I would bet things like 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'. 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!
Rant over.