While fans of [wxWindows], [Qt], [GTK]+, and other [GUI] toolkits
often deride [Tk] as "old-fashioned", a good case can be made that
it's merely mature.  Well into its second decade of successful
application, Tk remains the most reliable cross-platform GUI toolkit,
besting even [Java]'s [AWT] in its effective coverage.  Beginners also
find it easier to start with Tk than any other system, with the
possible exceptions of rather hermetic and platform-specific
technologies, as well as members of the *Card family.





Why has Tk aged so gracefully?  It enjoys several specific technical
advantages, discussed below.  At a higher level, it seems increasingly
likely that Tk is better off for being object-based, but ''not''
[object-oriented].  [[Explain.  [Todd Coram] makes the point that
OO limits tagging to clumsy static kinds based on RTTI and multiple
subclassing--yuck.  Maybe we can get Todd to write more.]]





   * [text] and [canvas] are powerhouses.
   * [tags] are incredibly effective.  The real question here is why no other toolkit has adopted tags to such good effect.

A big difference between Tk and Java's [AWT]/[Swing] is that Java provides not just a set of widgets, but also the entire infrastructure for creating new widgets, drawing graphics (manipulating individual pixels), etc. This means Java is very, very complicated, but allows you to create new widgets without needing to code in C.  Tk, on the other hand, will usually require you to code in C to create '''an entirely novel widget'''' (but, it is actually quite rare that this is needed, and this is possibly why Tk is so much easier to use -- many, many so-called 'new widgets' can be implemented simply as mega-widgets, without any C).

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ulis, 2002-01-08

It is possible -and easy- to write some [megawidget]s entirely with Tcl and Tk. An example is Hugelist [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/maurice.ulis/tcl/Hugelist] which implements a list box that can handle more than 1,000,000 items without CPU or memory penalties.

For how this is possible, see: [Mass-widget].

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Yes, ulis, that's what the previous contributor said - that ''megawidgets'' can be written in Tcl/Tk.  But that to create unique new widgets , one needs to go to C code because Tcl does not, at the script level, exposure APIs for generating the appropriate X transactions.

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[Category GUI]