Jeffrey Hobbs wrote in the comp.lang.tcl newsgroup on 2002-02-15:
Do you like compilers, GUI, IO, algorithms, automata theory, OS internals, or ??? I guarantee you, you name me a preference, and I'll return at least 3 projects or merit.
Let me just give some morsels (hmmm, this should get wikified):
Compiler: (a specialty of msofer at the moment)
* Simple post-pass optimization (making things like if 0 completely disappear) * Byte-compiling of more commands (switch, l*, ...) Jazz it up by better reusing code between eval'ed and bc'ed variants (this isn't so great now) * Reorganization of TclExecuteByteCode for enhanced performance (this really will require thinking)
GUI: oh, this list would go on forever
* themeing * enhanced native platform capability * work on TkGS * more widgets * a truly efficient megawidget system * improve embedding / embedability ...
IO:
* design / write cool VFS extensions * special path optimizations for simple IO cases * core UDP support (that means fileevent and all that works too)
algorithms: this is basically looking at whatever algs Tcl uses,
and seeing what might get improved * hash table performance * UTF <> Unicode handling ...
automata theory:
oh-ho, this would be the regexp engine (maniacal laugh)
OS internals:
* loading DLLs from memory * core DLL function caller (x-platform) * threading tweaks * improved allocators
I could get into fine detail on any of the points. Look at all those fun projects! What I would give to be a student again. Find a couple bored friends. Have a semester long hack fest.