Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL!

QOTW: "The Tcl style guide notes particularly not to abbr opts." -- 
Jeff Hobbs

"...the tool of preference I reach for time after time when I really need
to get something done is Tcl.  It's the very best club one could ask for 
to beat a problem to death." -- Larry Smith


POTW: moodss 17.3 by Jean-Luc Fontaine:  "Moodss... displays data described
and updated in one or more modules, which can be specified in the command
line or dynamically loaded or unloaded while the application is running....
Specific modules can easily be developed in the Tcl, Perl and Python
scripting languages or in C."  Most intriguingly, moodss appears to be in
use within IBM's Linux groups.  http://wiki.tcl.tk/mooddss


    Need to create lots of windows under Windows, but only one taskbar
    icon?  Use [wm transient] and this trick from Donald Arseneau and
    the crew:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=15a88f2d4d76fc18

    Did you know that [array set] adds to what's already there? I sure
    didn't!
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=46aea6c9331a1045

    Discussion of "What widget for simple diagram editor" teaches us
    that
     1) Simple tasks aren't necessarily simple to code,
     2) It's easier to start from somebody else's code, and
     3) Here's a golden opportunity to contribute to the Tcl community.
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=8c9740ec82ab6830

    Just because an abbreviation used to be unambiguous, doesn't mean
    it still is.  -com[mand] ambiguity -com[pound]s an unsuspecting
    user's pain:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=d231d0bd6fb72f01

    An introspection :-) into debuggers, inspectors, consoles, and
    errors, in which we learn how Tcl is not PHP.  The lengthy "Never
    say die" thread and some of its children:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=bfe0e3d97c23129b
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=f8779178d518cb7b (Rivet)
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=1631c204f19074c3 (tkinspect)
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=c5e965a7800bd6fc (Komodo License)
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=fb626990618c25c8 (namespaces...)

    One of my favorite packages discussed in "usage of comm".
    Just remember to run the event loop!
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=ee5616ba03f26109

    Native Aqua Tcl/Tk on Mac OS X is still somewhat of an odd duck:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=fed0e7e54cee2e74

    A frequent newbie problem: Building a -command now, to execute later:
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=d9ce8f7412ba03cb
        http://groups.google.com/groups?th=41665a49abe7fbed

   

Thanks to Arjen Markus for his review of Wiki activity.  With this 
installment, he's already put in one full year on the job.
  The last seven or eight days on the Wiki are filled with the way
  to do things. So let us categorise along this axis:
  
  Debugging:
  - An overview of several debugging techniques and pointers to other 
    pages is to be found at <http://wiki.tcl.tk/4344>
  
  - Tkinspect is one such tool, with a new tutorial its page is 
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/511>
  
  - Here is another method, inspecting the application's state via
    a browser, <http://wiki.tcl.tk/9154>
  
  - Perhaps the recommendations for making sure that Tcl scripts 
    can be run properly cross-platform, <http://wiki.tcl.tk/1110>
    may be placed here too.
  
  Parsing input:
  - The overview for parsing various types of data is located at 
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/4359>
  
  - Parsing HTML is a new member of this family, though the code 
    may be older, see <http://wiki.tcl.tk/9153>
  
  Now you see it, now you don't: 
  - Saving the contents of various widgets so that they can be restored
    later, is not that difficult: the process is called serialising 
    (or serializing, depending on your particular dictionary)
    and is exemplified in <http://wiki.tcl.tk/9167> with others
    like it.
  
  - Saving and restoring images, well, see for yourself:
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/9160> shows how to convert an image into a string
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/9127> shows how to convert a window into an image
  
  Two to go ...
  - For a collection of very disparate algorithms, see this "Bag of algorithms",
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/526>
  
  - A full application described at the Wiki: managing a medical practice,
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/9131>
  

Everything 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

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

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p.lang.tcl

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

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