George Peter Staplin: It's interesting to me how the vernacular of some groups is to spell the language as Tcl, while others use TCL. I'm not sure when Tcl became the name. Going back to the archives of Tcl I find that the oldest distributation available on SourceForge is tcl2.1.sysv. In the README file Ousterhout uses the term "Tcl." ([1]) Even though it stands for "Tool Command Language" in some way.
Perl at one time stood for "Practical Extraction and Report Language," but most people spell it Perl. It's usually pronounced like the word Pearl.
How should one pronounce Tcl? Most programmers say "tickle." You *may* find that people won't take you seriously if you say that, so T-C-L or "Tool Command Language" may work better in such cases.
A similar argument is how to pronounce Linux. Some say "Lie nux," while others use "lee nux" or "lin ux." FW: Incidentally, this also has an official pronunciation [L1 ], which due to the Finnish accent actually is between leenux and lihnux, so you can take your pick ;)
LES I can't take seriously the argument that "people won't take you seriously if you say tickle". That's the language's name, I even have been told that the logo is a feather because "it tickles", so what do we have feel ashamed about? I think that Tcl is very overlooked and/or underrated, but I don't think the name has anything to do with it.
PWQ Les: I never use tickle and always use T-C-L. While the computer nerds may get off on the cutism's that they introduce, in the real world you have to relate to non computer people. Their association of the word tickle is not one that I want to portray in attempting to convince people that I am a competent programmer that can create a robust system and get them to part with their money.
Do people say IBM or I-B-M? P-H-P?. Would you employ someone who was en expert in fluffy?, what about brainfuck, or orgasm?
NEM Do you also avoid telling people that Java is named after a type of coffee, Python is named after a BBC comedy show, or C++ is a geeky joke on the C language increment operator? I mean, come on. Who cares? I use tickle until someone stares blankly at me, and then I offer T-C-L by way of explanation. I've yet to encounter anyone so devoid of a sense of humour to take issue with the name.
PWQ Nem: The ontology of the word is not important. It is what image is created in the person you are communicating with. Take the acronym GAY, what image would the recipient get if they heard the phrase:
I program in Gay.
They would be somewhat discombobulated because there are numerous interpretations of that word. You would be constantly having to clarify what G-A-Y was.
If the acronym was for example 'PWR and the usages was Power, you would confidently say to someone:
I program in Power!
Marketing is all about image, and quite frankly the image of tickle lacks impact.
Re: Java,Python, This is a separate issue as these are words not acronyms. Java was originally called Oak, because the developer who conceived it had a favorite oak tree outside of his office. He realized that Oak was already taken so he named it Java based on a coffee shop his team frequently visited.
FW: Actually, Perl never stood for anything, but some acronyms were later jokingly prescribed (the practical extraction one was suggested in the same Usenet thread as "Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister," if I recall). Tcl isn't a community-induced cutism, it's the official pronunciation as prescribed by Ousterhout.
RLH: I tend towards Tcl because I have only ever seen it that way. The books I read say Tcl/Tk and even the front page of this wikisite says Tcl.