Tcl is a "toy language" in that it's simple, children learn it, it's handy for very small programming, ...
Tcl is far more than a toy language, though, for the people who ...
applications in Tcl and Tcl/Tk
... Anyone else think that Tcl might be taken more seriously were it not for the slightly childish "tickle" name? --Andrew Cates
MSW I don't think the name is a problem at all: Consider JAVA, RUBY, PERL, PYTHON ...
(TV "Tool Command Language" strikes me as one of the more sensible names in computerworld as know, I don't see the problem. Tickle is maybe childish, maybe apt, but I've always seen TCL as simply an acronym. )
... The problem is lack of a hero, and marketing. Also, perhaps worth noting are the eternal in-community battles over lack of complex, 2-dimensional arrays, speed issues (is this still true?), and OO (lets not get into it here).
How can TCL get a public face-lift? ...
How about writing an interpreter for TCL in TCL? By many peoples' standards, a language is no longer a toy language if you can write an interpreter or compiler for it in its own language.
Actually, I think the opposite may in fact be true. Tickle would be a cuter, warmer name (like Java, Python etc.), whereas Tcl looks like something IBM would invent. --Setok
Tcl needs a new iconic mascot - a feather is ok but not fulfilling. And not something fluffy like an otter but something than can stand up better in the boardroom. Or maybe something more reflective of its true nature - like a squid - able to change its shape at will and adapt easily to any situation. DL
And of course, it's trivial to adapt anything with tentacles (tenTaCLes) to word play.