See TIP 311 [L1 ] for a document meant to be more of a plan, and less of a mere collection of WIBNIs. - DGP
This list is much more concrete than the Tcl 9.0 WishList, the wishes being more that someone should undertake the listed tasks 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...]
Really 8.5 too if someone does it!
Tcl
Tk
Outside the core
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.
Also, improved documentation for ttk is not something that needs to wait for 8.6 at all.