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The (Active) State of Tcl

The (Active) State of Tcl. The (Active) State of Tcl. Jeff Hobbs ActiveState Corporation. Agenda. Introduction What has happened… Developments in the Tcl community Developments of the Tcl/Tk core Future directions. About ActiveState.

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The (Active) State of Tcl

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  1. Open Source Convention 2001 The (Active) State of Tcl

  2. The (Active) State of Tcl Jeff Hobbs ActiveState Corporation Open Source Convention 2001

  3. Agenda • Introduction • What has happened… • Developments in the Tcl community • Developments of the Tcl/Tk core • Future directions Open Source Convention 2001

  4. About ActiveState • ActiveState provides multi-language, cross-platform software & services • Tcl, Perl, PHP, Python, XSLT • Linux, Solaris, Windows • We make it easy to use new technologies • Web Services and .NET • Mission: Make Programming Easier • Our IDEs • Active distributions • ASPN Open Source Convention 2001

  5. You are here History of Tcl 7. ActiveState introduces Tcl support and services 1. Tcl created as general-purpose command/scripting language by John Ousterhout • 4. Scriptics formed: • Evolve and extend Tcl platform • Create development tools 6.0 Sept 7.0 Sept 7.4 July 7.6 Oct 8.0 Aug 8.1 Apr 8.3 Feb 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 8.2 Aug 5. Tcl Core Team formed (August) • 2. Open source distributions • from U.C. Berkeley: • Easy GUIs under Unix • Extensible applications 6. Scriptics/Ajuba Acquired by Interwoven (Nov.) • 3. Tcl enhanced at Sun Microsystems: • Windows, Macintosh ports • Web/Internet support • Java support 1M ? 100 1000 10,000 100,000 500,000 Open Source Convention 2001

  6. R.I.P You are here Recent History of Tcl 1. Tcl’2K in Austin (Feb) 6. ActiveState introduces Tcl support and services (Feb) 9. 8th Tcl Conference (July) 2. Scriptics becomes Ajuba (May) 8.3.1 Apr 8.3.2 Aug 8.3.3 May 8.4a3 July 2000 2001 8.3.0 Feb 8.4a1 June 8.4a2 Nov … 7. Tcl’Europe 2001 (June) 3. Tcl’Europe 2000 (June) 8. ActiveTcl 8.3.3.2 (July) 5. Scriptics/Ajuba acquired by Interwoven; Tcl/Tk core moves to SourceForge; TclPro open sourced (Nov.) 4. Tcl Core Team formed (August) Open Source Convention 2001

  7. Version Usage Open Source Convention 2001

  8. Status as of 7th Tcl Conference • Austin, February 2000 • Tcl/Tk 8.3.0 was the stable version (8.3.x now part of Red Hat and SuSE standard distributions) • Scriptics had released TclPro 1.3(not yet Ajuba) • 2 core maintainers (Jeff & Eric) Open Source Convention 2001

  9. Now… Tcl Core Team • Formed in August 2000 with 14 charter members based on community voting to collectively manage development of the core Open Source Convention 2001

  10. TCT: TIP Initiatives • Started TIP process for Tclhttp://www.purl.org/tcl/tip/ • TIPs are intended to guide and document development on the core • The focus is on new or changing features, not bugs • Voted on by the TCT following community discussion using the TYANNOTT process • Currently 47 … 48 … 49 … 50 … 51 TIPs • 6 process, 9 informational, 36 project TIPs • TCT discussion is open on the public mailing list:tcl-core@lists.sourceforge.net Open Source Convention 2001

  11. Tcl/Tk Maintainers • Tcl/Tk maintainers are separate from the TCT • Maintainers oversee a specific area of the core, as defined in TIP #16 for Tcl and TIP #23 for Tk • They assist, but are not solely responsible for, fixing bugs and adding documentation in their area • They are responsible for reviewing code and approving code changes to their area • Open to anyone willing to learn the core • New volunteers always welcome Open Source Convention 2001

  12. The Maintainers… • Tcl (TIP #24): • Tk (TIP #30): Open Source Convention 2001

  13. R.I.P Scriptics/Ajuba… • Scriptics became Ajuba Solutions in May 2000 • New focus as a B2B infrastructure company • Interwoven: content management company in need of B2B… • Ajuba assimilated on Nov 1, 2000 • Tcl/Tk moved to SourceForge:http://tcl.sf.net/ • TclPro open sourced:http://tclpro.sf.net/ • Further open source work not continued at Interwoven • Most other projects at Ajuba moved to SourceForge Open Source Convention 2001

  14. Tcl/Tk at SourceForge • SourceForge provides a wealth of services for open source projects • Bug and patch database • Mailing lists • CVS repositories • File server • Web pages • Managed by TCT and Tcl/Tk maintainers • Not the Tcl Developer Xchange Open Source Convention 2001

  15. Tcl @ ActiveState • ActiveState established 1997 • “Programming for the People” • Used to be Perl specific • Well known ActivePerl distribution • Added Python and XML/XSLT expertise in 2000 • Jeff Hobbs hired in Feb 2001 • Andreas Kupries follows soon after • Other knowledgeable Tcl’ers on staff • Wealth of scripting knowledge at ActiveState Open Source Convention 2001

  16. ActiveState and Tcl • ActiveState provides the Tcl community with… • Improvements to open source Tcl core • ActiveTcl http://aspn.ActiveState.com/ASPN/Tcl/ • High quality development tools • Komodo IDE http://aspn.ActiveState.com/ASPN/Downloads/Komodo/More • Host of the Tcl Developer Xchange • Commercial support infrastructure http://www.ActiveState.com/Products/Enterprise/TclDirect/ • Professional services for Tcl Open Source Convention 2001

  17. ActiveTcl 8.3.3.2 • Based on the 8.3.3 Tcl core • Enhanced with several popular extensions • [incr Tcl], TclX, expect, tcllib, Bwidgets, tktable, tkcon • The first step towards a standard BI distribution • Code repository in the works Open Source Convention 2001

  18. Komodo IDE Open Source Convention 2001

  19. Tcl Developer Xchange Open Source Convention 2001

  20. Tcl Cookbook Open Source Convention 2001

  21. ASPN/TclPro • Tentative!! • Resuscitate TclPro as a commercial quality development environment • Debugger: source-level debugger with nice GUI • Checker: find errors without running application • Wrapper: create self-contained applications for distribution • Compiler: protect your source code • Tight integration of TclPro tools with Komodo • Leverage Komodo to make TclPro an IDE Open Source Convention 2001

  22. In the Community… • The Tcl’ers Wiki has increased in activity: • http://www.purl.org/tcl/wiki • Now with interactive chat • The Tcl Developer Xchange has moved: • http://www.purl.org/net/tclhome • http://tcl.ActiveState.com/ • Tcl-URL! continues to provide weekly news: • http://www.ddj.com/topics/tclurl/ • http://tcl.ActiveState.com/tclurl/ • Lots of extension updates Open Source Convention 2001

  23. comp.lang.tcl(.announce) • As helpful and friendly as ever • Accessible via the web • http://groups.google.com/ • http://www.etin.com/ • Free newsgroup access • mirror.utcorp.net Open Source Convention 2001

  24. Tcl/Tk Today • Download rate steady (~30,000 / month) • Windows: 55% • Unix: 40% • Mac: 5% • Only patch releases since last year • Stable release now at 8.3.3 • Completely new I/O core (for 8.3.2) • High degree of stability • Improved locale support in Tk Open Source Convention 2001

  25. Tcl/Tk 8.4 • Experimental release, now at 8.4a3 • Still in feature-add mode • New spinbox widget • Several minor core feature enhancements • Significant work on performance • Near or better than 8.0, with unicode and thread safety. • Several TIPs in the pipeline • New virtual file system code • ‘lset’ command • panedwindow, labelframe widgets • TEA 2.0 Open Source Convention 2001

  26. Tcl’Europe 2001 • Hamburg, June 8-9, 2001 • 14 Original papers and tutorials • From using Tcl with Cobol to Tcl on the Web to Tcl on a PDA… • Thanks for Carsten Zerbsthttp://www.tu-harburg.de/skf/tcltk/ Open Source Convention 2001

  27. Future Directions • The core is guided by community input • Anyone can write a TIP • Anyone can be a core maintainer • What issues are most pressing? • ActiveState will continue to work with the Tcl community and build more Tcl related products • Open discussion to follow Open Source Convention 2001

  28. Improve Tcl performance [10] Archive file support (.jar/.zip) [3] Larger source distributions [6] Larger binary distributions [20] Tcl Installer [20] Versioning change [33%] Core OO support [50%] Smaller, modular core [30] Drag & Drop [35] Windows Tk Performance [10] Printing support [90%] Tk abstraction layer (TkGS) [25] Megawidgets (roll your own) [30] New Widgets [60%] Themes [3] CTAN [95%] Tcl Roadmap Poll ~60-65 attendees Open Source Convention 2001

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