Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc,comp.lang.scheme,comp.lang.tcl
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From: "Suresh Srinivas" <ssriniva@cs.indiana.edu>
Subject: Re: GNU Extension Language Plans
Message-ID: <1994Oct22.135559.20924@news.cs.indiana.edu>
Organization: Computer Science, Indiana University
References: <EBOUCK.94Oct19170519@dsdbqvarsa.er.usgs.gov> <1994Oct20.125903.19549@njitgw.njit.edu> <388vrk$n2r@engnews2.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 1994 13:55:55 -0500
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.misc:18321 comp.lang.scheme:10523 comp.lang.tcl:20754

ouster@tcl.eng.sun.com (John Ousterhout) writes:

>(sigh... here we go again)

>I'd like to respond to an error in Richard Stallman's latest posting.
>Stallman said:

>    Sun recently announced a campaign to "make Tcl the universal
>    scripting language."  This is a campaign to convince all the
>    developers who *don't* prefer Tcl that they really have no choice.
>    The idea is that each one of us will believe that Sun will inevitably
>    convince everyone else to use Tcl, and each of us will feel compelled
>    to follow where we believe the rest are going.

>Please understand that this "campaign" exists only in Stallman's mind.
>As far as I know there has never been *any* official Sun announcement
>about Tcl.  There is no campaign at Sun to stamp out Tcl competitors;
>Tcl and Tk aren't even official Sun products right now, nor has Sun
>made a commitment to turn them into products (yet).  If anyone has
>concrete evidence to back up Stallman's accusations, please post it
>so we can all see it.

Here's a job posting that I came across while searching on Career
Mosaic's home page. It does talk about Tcl as the universal scripting
language. Maybe Prof Ousterhout could clarify this.

Prof Osterhout is right in saying that negative campaigning is not
good. I'd say certainly I've heard more negative things said about
TCL, C++ etc in the scheme newsgroup than vice versa. There are really
neat things about scheme like high level macros but also not so neat
things like poor support for reuse (unable to use neat libraries
developed in C++ for example). The foreign function support in scheme
is far from good. The thing to remember is that scheme is not a
panacea for everything, it is one paradigm and providing interfaces
to other paradigms is only going to make it more acceptable. 

--Suresh Srinivas


-----Job posting about Tcl from Sun -------------

Sun Micorsystems Laboratories, Inc. is embarking on a new project  
directed by Dr. John Ousterhout. Our goal is to make Tcl/Tk the
universal scripting language.   
 
To accomplish this we are in the process of building a new group
which is well funded and fully dedicated to this project. This group  
is under SMLI (Sun Microsystems Laboratories, Inc.) which is the
advanced technology and research arm of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 
We are searching for several more individuals to join us in this
effort and play a key role in making this goal a reality.
 
You will help us on the development of the Tcl scripting language,
the Tk toolkit, and their extentions and applications.  
 
The two most important projects will be a port of Tk to Windows and
Macintosh platforms, and the creation of a graphical designer for  
Tk user interfaces. This will allow people to create interfaces
graphically on the screen, rather than writing scripts.
 
The individualals we are looking for will have solid experience
with C, C++, and experience with Tcl/Tk. We would also like to
have some expertise with MS/Windows and/or MACS.  
The qualified candidate will also have a BSCS/MSCS and 5 plus
years work experience.
 
If you are interested in exploring this new opportunity please
follow up to:
 
Scott Knowles
SMLI
2550 Garcia Ave.  MTV19-02
Mt.View,  CA  94043
 

-- 
Suresh Srinivas                            Department of Computer Science
Grad Student                               Indiana University, Bloomington,
email: ssriniva@cs.indiana.edu             IN 47406. 
