2004-12-13
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QOTW:  "All this could probably have been done in other languages but Tcl
has the advantage of understandability at 0400 Hrs with no coffee around.
:)" -- John McCormac 

"Tcl is simple, but subtle." -- Gerry Snyder

"You can write complete, useful Tcl/Tk apps on a napkin." -- Melissa Schrumpf


POTW:  Ellogon is a not-so-long-ago-LGPLed "language engineering platform
...  valuable ... for natural language processing."
    http://www.ellogon.org/


    While there's a place for strcat(), its use will remind you of
    your gratitude for Tcl's adept handling of memory and Unicode.
        http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_thread/thread/2749ee7c3860433c/f530a0ad20e80882

    Snack can be accelerated withOUT tonic distortion.
        http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_thread/thread/6b4aaf411bdc58e0/311ca3177051720b

    Decision-makers continue to have questions about whether Tcl
    *really* "can do that".  It can, of course, in breathtaking
    range.
        http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_thread/thread/73eafffc18dcbfb5/98c67a4e28f430aa


Thanks to Arjen Markus for his report from the Wiki(s):
  Sometimes, writing the summary, I am lost for words ... Apparently I am 
  not the only one - as witnessed by the "FindWords" utility - 
  <http://wiki.tcl.t/10768>. So, that said, here is it!
  
  Finding, checking and watching
  - Files change over time - here is a little utility to check that
    - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/13164>
  
  - It is quite a bit harder to find out how these COM objects on Windows 
    want to be spoken to. Perhaps this page will help you out:
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/13153>
  
  - You found a bug (in your software, of course)? You want to store
    the information about it in a nice environment for future? Here is
    a helper script: <http://wiki.tcl.tk/13111>
  
  - Whether it is a good idea or not, generating random tests is easy
    and they may expose another bug or two - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/13154>
  
  A crash, not a bug
  - It should not happen, but even Tcl is known to crash, sometimes.
    Here is the first-aid kit when the nearly impossible occurs:
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/1738>
  
  Not as easy as it may seem
  - Interpreting dates, even when written according to the ISO standard,
    is a tough job - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/13094>
  
  - Fonts, we need them dearly, so you better know your way around:
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/5997>
  
  - Random numbers anyone? Watch out: they play hard to get ...
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/13120>
  
  Much easier than it seems
  - What joy it is to see this suspension bridge oscillate on the screen
    - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/13131> lets you play with springs
    

Everything Tcl-related you want is probably one or two clicks away in these
pages:
    The "Welcome to comp.lang.tcl" message by Andreas Kupries
        http://www.purl.org/net/tcl-welcome

    The Tcl Developer Site is Tcl's "home base".
	http://www.tcl.tk

    Larry Virden maintains a comp.lang.tcl FAQ launcher.
        http://www.purl.org/NET/Tcl-FAQ/

    The Tcl Developer Xchange is a highly organized resource center
    of documents and software with provisions for individuals to
    maintain references to their own software:
        http://www.tcl.tk/resource/
    The TDX sponsor, ActiveState, also keeps info to convince your
    boss Tcl is a good thing
        http://www.tcl.tk/scripting/

    The Tcl'ers Wiki is a huge, dynamic, collaboratively edited repository
    of documentation, examples, tutorials and pontifications on all things 
    Tcl.
        http://wiki.tcl.tk/0
    For the ideal overview of the topics about Tcl most likely to
    interest a newcomer, see "Arts and Crafts ..."
        http://wiki.tcl.tk/969

    ActiveState maintains binaries distribution and development tools
        http://www.activestate.com/Tcl
    along with a Cookbook of Tcl recipes
        http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Tcl

    Cameron Laird tracks several Tcl/Tk references of interest
        http://phaseit.net/claird/comp.lang.tcl/

    Cetus Links maintains a Tcl/Tk page with verified links
        http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_tcl_tk.html

    "Yahoo! Groups" archives comp.lang.tcl.announce posts
        http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tcl_announce/

Previous - (U)se the (R)esource, (L)uke! - messages are listed here:
  http://www.ddj.com/topics/tclurl/
An alternative is
  http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Tcl-URL&as_ugroup=comp.lang.tcl

Suggestions/corrections for next week's posting are always welcome.

To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday, ask
<claird@phaseit.net> to subscribe.  Be sure to mention "Tcl-URL!".
--
Dr. Dobb's Journal (http://www.ddj.com) is pleased to participate in and
sponsor the "Tcl-URL!" project.
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