Tcl-URL! - weekly Tcl news and links (Feb 15)

QOTW:  "[F]ast and accurate FP [floating-point] conversion is much harder
than it looks." - Kevin Kenny


    More great reading from Kevin Walzer:
	http://www.codebykevin.com/opensource/app-store.html


Thanks to Arjen Markus for his mostly-weekly Wiki reports:
  Tclers have many hobbies - when they do not devise their own object system,
  they build their own spreadsheet package. Or so it would seem. Anyway,
  there is plenty of interesting pages to be found on the Wiki!
  
  Spreadsheets
  - Create an Open Office spreadsheet out of nowhere. 
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/27147> shows the Tcl code you need.
  
  - Parsing an Excel XLSX file: interesting not only for the practical
    purposes but also an exercise in parser generation.
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/27971>
  
  - Overview of spreadsheet-like packages in Tcl: <http://wiki.tcl.tk/20386>
  
  Random tools
  - A widget for dealing with properties - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/27970>.
    The demo shows how you can add new properties, which is a nice touch.
  
  - An outline editor, it is already a few years old but that does not
    mean it is not useful anymore - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/2797>
  
  - A collection of tools, take the one you need - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/22622>.
    (An interesting one: build graphical output without Tk but in a 
    Tk-like style)
  
  - Dataflow programming is just another paradigm, but it may be
    useful (as you can tell from the popularity of spreadsheets).
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/24511> illustrates the technique.
  
  Last but not least
  - Click! A new point. Drag it! A new bend in the line. While the code
    can be improved, the basic functionality is there: 
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/11031>
  
  - Two new books on using Tcl - check out <http://wiki.tcl.tk/27943>
    and <http://wiki.tcl.tk/27945>. Mind you: the first one is in
    German.
  

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
    comp.lang.tcl is a crucial resource for Tcl practitioners.
    An interesting perspective on its traffic appears at
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/about

    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/

    Tcl Developer Xchange sponsor, ActiveState, 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
    There's also a high-quality Wikibook on Tcl:
        http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Programming:Tcl

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

    "La Gazette du Técleux" is an important monthly publication.
        http://wfr.tcl.tk/1159

    deli.cio.us presents an intriguing approach to reference commentary.
    It already aggregates quite a bit of Tcl intelligence.
        http://del.icio.us/tag/tcl

    Cameron Laird tracks several Tcl/Tk references of interest (but
    needs to validate many of the links).
        http://phaseit.net/claird/comp.lang.tcl/

    Years ago, Cetus Links maintained a Tcl/Tk page with verified links
        http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_tcl_tk.html

    "Yahoo! Groups" archives comp.lang.tcl.announce posts--even 
    though clta itself is dormant.
        http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tcl_announce/

We're working on more useful archives of past installments.  Dave 
Williams generously is building up
    http://www.bacomatic.org/~dw/comp/tclurl/index.htm
and of course Google gives us
  http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Tcl-URL&...

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

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