Version 0 of The world of ToolCommand

Updated 2001-08-09 10:29:15

Richard Suchenwirth - Again, this is not a book, just a page at the Tcl'ers Wiki. It has been discussed in c.l.t that Tcl's name is one of the factors that slow down its success. But Tcl since ever stands for "Tool Command language", so why not refer to it, marketingwise, as the "ToolCommand" language? "Tool" sounds like no-nonsense work; "Command" sounds like control - altogether a sober yet attractive name, while outsiders associate "Tickle" with non-serious, childish activities, and Tee-Cee-Ell-Tee-Kay sounds as impressive as TCP/IP.

We know that Tcl programming is as easy as child's play; but what we make with it is serious tools in full command. Suddenly "Python" and "Perl" sound a little bit funny... "ToolCommander" could be the (marketing) name either for what we now call a Tcl'er, or a experimenting/learning tool that makes Tcl initiation even easier.

Were this a book, it might have the following chapters:

  • The platforms world: Win/Unix/Mac, VMS, Palm...
  • The UI world: Tk, event model, BWidget, ...
  • The languages world: Unicode and UTF-8, msgcat, ...
  • The connected world: sockets, http...
  • The people world: c.l.t, Wiki, the Tcl Chatroom, TIP, OSS...

Is Tcl different! - Arts and crafts of Tcl-Tk programming