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From: lwv26@chemabs.uucp (Larry W. Virden)
Subject: Re: Why you should not use Tcl
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In article <PREECE.94Sep29115049@predator.urbana.mcd.mot.com>,
Scott E. Preece <preece@urbana.mcd.mot.com> wrote:
:n-reply-to: rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu's message of Fri, 23 Sep 94 19:14:52 -0400
:
:My primary complaint with Tcl/Tk is lack of stable interfaces.  It seems
:like every package we've imported that uses them depends on a particular
:version (usually not one of the ones we have...).  I don't want to have
:half a dozen Tcl/Tk library pairs floating around and I don't really
:want to learn enough to port packages from one version to another.

Are you actually referring to the fact that a number of packages require
some extension to be present in the interpretor?  Could you present
some specific examples?

I have _never_ found a case where a currently maintained package required 
anything other than the latest Tcl/Tk.  Well, there is of course a lag
between a formal release and the release of a supported version of a 
program.  Just like any language that exists, many products do not yet
support Sun's templates, Perl 5, etc.  Only after a major release has
stabalized (and the volunteers have time to get around to it) do
most packages get ported.  And there are I will grant you many cases
where folks have lost interest or access to the net so that updates
to their packages were never made available.  There is, of course, nothing
stopping one from upgrading the package to the latest version of Tcl/Tk -
since the source is fully available for the packages.

:
:I realize that a young language is going to be evolving (though I didn't
:really think Tcl/Tk were young enough to be evolving that fast) but the
:current rate of change has materially affected its usefulness for us.

Again, specific examples would perhaps result in explanations - or even
corrections for the problem!

-- 
:s Great net resources sought...
:s Larry W. Virden                 INET: lvirden@cas.org
:s <URL:http://www.mps.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/hpp?lvirden_sig.html>
The task of an educator should be to irrigate the desert not clear the forest.
