**Tcl 8.6 Wish List**


''See TIP 311 [http://tip.tcl.tk/311] for a document meant to be more of a plan, and less
of a mere collection of [WIBNI]s.'' - '''[DGP]'''

This list is much more concrete than the [Tcl 9.0 WishList], the wishes being more that '''someone should undertake the listed task'''s than that someone should figure out how to do ''X''. Also the wish might be directed more from [TCT] to the community at large (''please assist us with getting this done'') than the other way around. [[the tct is an administrative body - in general, the help provided would be in terms of guiding discussion as to whether such a thing should happen, then helping get the [TIP] written and submitted... There is, however, the tcl maintainers, whose role is more along the lines of software maintenance of the existing code...]]

   * Expanded tutorial/docs on [ttk]

   * [TDBC]
   * Compressing/uncompressing channels and built-in [ZIP] [VFS] support
   * [regexp] maintainer (I would love to see more work done to improve, modernize and add feature to regexp)
   * [PCRE] regexp implementation [https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=1860727&group_id=10894&atid=310894]
   * [TclOO] ready for the core
   * TIP #285 (script cancellation via Tcl_CancelEval and [interp cancel])
   * Support for [complex number]s and decimal numbers ([AM] I could not resist adding these two - it seems to me right that would be best done via two separate commands) - [AM] See below (after a night's sleep)
   * [try ... finally ...] (or something like [TIP]#89[http://tip.tcl.tk/89])
   * [Unicode] beyond \uFFFF.
   * Asynchronous name resolution for [socket]
   * Adopt [TclParser] somehow, so that we can all get parse trees for scripts

   * [PNG] [image] support [http://tip.tcl.tk/244]
   * [Fixing Tk_Uid Leaks]
   * [winfo] workarea  (Something like [twapi]'s get_desktop_workarea for all platforms (From twapi help: The workarea is that area that is not covered by the taskbar and any application desktop toolbars.))
   * Run error messages through [msgcat]
   * Better image processing for [photo]

   * Batteries included release!
   * TkWeb (compile Tk code to webpages instead of regular forms, also possibly make it Volta-ish[http://labs.live.com/volta/])

----
**Commentary**
[DKF]: BI releases depend on other people to put them together. [ActiveTcl]'s an instance of this, and both [tclkit] and [eTcl] are others. But the core bits aren't likely to be done as a BI release directly since that makes things take longer as well as being more difficult for people who want stripped-down releases.

The TkWeb idea is neat, but vanishingly unlikely to happen without contributed code.

[Twylite]: I'd really like to see TIP #89 (Try/Catch Exception Handling in the Core) finalised and completed.  Once the syntax is agreed upon I'm pretty sure it should be possible to have a pure-Tcl implementation (backwards compatible to 8.5 and 8.4) done quite quickly, leaving some time for a C implementation before the alphas/betas.

On the BI side, a lot is possible with a small alternative to the shell/application code and built-in ZIP VFS support; perhaps the latter can be prioritised?


[AM]: My idea of supporting complex numbers and decimal numbers can be reduced to something simpler: add a command to convert
an expression like "1+exp($a/$b)*$x" to "+ 1 [[* [[exp [[/ $a $b]]]] $x]]". A (scripted or compiled) extension dealing with
complex numbers, or arrays of numbers, if you like, can then simply implement procedures +, exp, * suitable for the "number"
system and evaluate the resultant command.

[LV]: Donal, is it safe to say that just because something is on the wish list does not guarantee that feature will make it into 8.6? Traditionally, Tcl hasn't had a ''development team'' working on new features. That hasn't changed, right?
Normally, if someone wants to see particular new features appear in a version, it would behoove them to participate either contributing time, money, encouragement, bribes, etc.

[DKF]: Correct. Contributions to make things happen (code/patches are best) ''will'' improve the chances, and all the wishes here by me are done with at least a fair chunk of "user of Tcl" perspective. And I bet that [zlib] support gets done; too many other things depend on it.

[LV]: Of the above list, the entry least likely to occur in Tcl 8.6 is the '''batteries included''' one, IMO. I suspect the tkweb one is another one that is too ambitious.

[DKF]: Hmm, I'd say that we're marginally more likely to do a BI release than tkweb-in-the-core.
----
**See Also**
   * [Tcl 9.0 WishList]
----
!!!!!!
%| [Category Suggestions] |%
!!!!!!