Contributors to the comp.lang.tcl newsgroup frequently express concern that a decision to use Tcl is risky, because the language might ... well, something might happen.
It's hard to answer unspecified fears rationally. The well-defined ones all turn out to be mistakes. Will Java be better-supported? Well, IBM and Sun have been supporting Java for all its worth, and its portability in particular, and Tcl remains available for a wider span of platforms. Is Tcl vulnerable because its creator might not support it? In fact, John Ousterhout has been away from technical leadership of the implementation since 1999 or so, and new versions continue to appear. Won't GNOME themes, or .NET, or Ruby, or object-orientation, or ..., leave Tcl behind? Sure; in three to five years, each of these will catch up with features Tcl already enjoys. If that means, "leave Tcl behind" to you, then Tcl is probably not a language that will leave you comfortable.
Maybe Tcl will decline in any of several objective senses. The evidence usually presented in support of such a prediction, though, is demonstrably ... inconclusive.
LV I would add to the above that when people say "Tcl doesn't have ..." followed by some function, what they seem to mean is "I want to do ..., but I don't want to code it myself, don't want to pay someone to code it, and don't want to have to download and build something other than the tcl.tar.gz or tcl.zip file."
That is a rather unfortunate attitude to take towards open source.
VK That's not always true. Sometimes TCL do not have something due to the fact that it do not goes smooth to the TCL ideology, but it is actually really used in programming world. A closures - http://wiki.tcl.tk/3330 is an example (there are attempts to simulate them but all you get is poor subsitute). Proper object destruction is another example. Anonymous subroutines, possibility of writing one-line command line script - you can neither download this as .tar.gz nor even implement it actually.
RS Open source software lives as long at least one developer has the sources and can compile them. Tcl sure isn't a fashionable language, but you also often hear how people are surprised and ultimately converted. Yes, we are a minority - but we got The Cool Language! I'm not worried as long as everything is a string.
LES on Nov-2006: I am not really an expert, but I do read and try a lot of stuff, and after 3 years using Tcl, I am still firmly convinced that Tcl is, sadly, an excessively well kept secret. If more developers took the time to shake off all prejudice and examine Tcl a little more, they would have nothing but the insecurity of working with an unpopular language to deal with. Tcl '''Tcl has all and a few other traits that many languages pursue and haven't managed to deliver to-date. Sadly, Tk is a different story. Tk is obsolete, no question about it.
Tcl has many years in front of it
unperson Indeed, Rich!
Nothing to worry about. No need to have a million programmers for a programming language to live and prosper. As the saying goes: too many cooks spoil the broth. I think Tcl-TK has the right ingredients, the right wiki, the right chat, and ultimately the right people to live for a long long time. It improves slowly but steadily and this is what counts. I am sure it will still be strong and healthy when yours truly will become food for (gourmet I hope) worms 6 feet under the ground :-) and way beyond...
Besides, good programming languages take a long time to die. We still hear about Cobol and Fortran which have been around for 50 years.
But those who really want to ensure Tcl's longevity, those who really want to make a concrete gesture towards getting TCL known should do what
and a few others have done: write software for the general public. Everyone who, like me, will be able to open magically a new program with just a click of the mouse without any installation, will be curious about the language and will try to learn more. Will, Jean-Claude, Mark, Brian and the discrete programmer have given Tcl/Tk its visit cards and its credentials.
But don't worry anyway about programming for programmers. There is a whole section of French literature which is called: literature for writers (le Nouveau Roman). They write experimental novels if you will (novels without a character, without a start, a turning point and an end). They don't sell a million copies of their books but still, a few thousand people are interested and this is what counts.
Finally, a last point. Judging by the vitality of this site, Tcl will be around for a long long time.
All in all I believe TCL's main strengths are this wiki, the chat, programmers mentioned above who write software for the general public, people like Mike Griffiths who make it a point of answering questions on the Ask and it shall be given pages and each and everyone who contributes to anything related to Tcl/Tk by bringing in their two cents worth.
No. Really. There is nothing to worry about.
I do worry about climate changes however. But that is another story for another day...
RFox I have only two things to say about this: AOLserver CISCO.
LTG30 If concerned read the third paragraph of this link. [L1 ]