[Java] and [Tcl] do actually work together, and can be combined in interesting and useful ways.  To get a more complete list of references, go to the [Category Java] page, click on the title, and you'll get a list of pages that refer to the Java Category.

----

The most notable combinations of Tcl and Java are described as part of the [TclJava] project.

   * [Jacl] is a Tcl 8.x interpreter written in Java.  You can script your Java applications in Tcl.
   * [TclBlend] is an extension that allows you to code new Tcl extensions in Java.
   * [Swank] is a graphical toolkit for [Jacl], allowing Java programs to code against the Tk widget set.

2010-11-27 The [Jtcl Interpreter], a fork of [Jacl] has been released, which continues the modernization of Jacl to support Tcl 8.4 commands.

----
'''How to Install and Use Jacl, TclBlend, and Swank'''

You will need a JRE (Java Runtime Environment) to run any of these.  The JRE is a free download from Sun, at http://java.sun.com/j2se/

The easiest way to try out any of these projects is to make sure you have a JRE version 1.4.2 or higher, download [Swank], and follow the instructions in the README.txt.  The download from the [Swank] site is prebuilt class files, and also includes the prebuilt class files for Jacl and TclBlend.

The downloads from the [Jacl] and [TclBlend] sites are the Java source for these projects.  You will need a JDK (also free from Sun) to build the "binaries" (Java bytecode classes) from this source.  If you are using JDK 1.5 to build version 1.3.1 of Jacl or TclBlend, then before running '''make''', you will need to edit the makefile and add "-source 1.4" to the JAVAC_FLAGS setting: e.g.
 JAVAC_FLAGS = -g -source 1.4
The source for [Swank] is available from CVS.

To use TclBlend, you also need to download the source for Tcl (and any other extensions you need), configure Tcl to build it for [thread]s, and then build and install it in a new directory.  Then, configure and build extensions similarly.  Note that not all extensions may be thread safe - alas, I don't know of a way to determine other than trying things out and seeing if they crash.

''[escargo] 2008-11-21'' - Would it be possible to tell if a particular environment already had properly configured and built Tcl available? When you "install it in a new directory,"
does that mean if your system already has Tcl prebuilt, you must install thread-enabled Tcl in a different directory? Or is the presumption that you don't have Tcl installed, so that
when you install it, you must create a directory to hold it?

----

If you want see contrasts and comparisons between Java and Tcl, then you might want to look at [Java vs Tcl] or just the [Java] page.

----
!!!!!!
%| [Category Java] | [Tcl and other languages] | [Arts and crafts of Tcl-Tk programming] |%
!!!!!!