Tcl-URL!

QOTW:  "Tcl is often used by the kind of people--those in charge of factories,
chemical refineries, transportation networks, ...--who expect their stuff to
work for decades at a time.  Tcl is all about gluing together useful parts,
even when some of them come from the real world; it's not a language that
just stares at its computing-fashion navel." - Cameron Laird on c.l.t
    http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/msg/66826194...

"It sounds like you're using the wrong hammer for the job.  If you have a
string and a known fixed substring, you should use the [string map]
command." - Glen Jackmann on c.l.t
    http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/msg/85c99c6f...


POTW:
    new library announcement by Bill Poser
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    In case anyone is interested, I have finished wrapping the library I 
    have been asking questions about and the Tcl API seems to work. The 
    library is libuninum. It converts Unicode strings representing integers 
    in nearly all known number systems (Chinese, Arabic, Armenian, 
    Gurmukhi, Old Persian, Klingon..) to their Western (Indo-Arabic) 
    decimal equivalents. (The underlying C library offers a choice of 
    strings, unsigned long integers, and GNU MP mpz_t objects as return 
    types.) You can specify the number system expected, but it will 
    successfully autodetect the number system in almost all cases.
    Homepage:
        http://billposer.org/Software/libuninum.html
	http://freshmeat.net/projects/libuninum

    ANNOUNCE: package lookup cache by David Keefe
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    Some time ago I noticed that on some Tcl installations it could take a 
    noticeable time to respond to 'package require' calls. SInce I write a 
    lot of Tcl in CGI scripts (yes, very retro), that sort of delay was 
    becoming irksome. 
    To that end I wrote an extension for 'package' which lets you build a 
    lookup table of packages and speeds up loading them very effectively. 
    It's built into a system I wrote called web-template and can be found 
    on freshmeat.
    Homepage:
	http://members.optushome.com.au/starters/template/

    3 ANNOUNCEMENTS in one by Emmanuel Frecon
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    zshader:
    The zshader library is a  utility library that will allow to shade 
    (fade)  away  items on  a  Zinc  canvas.   The shading  effect  is 
    attained  through a stepwise  modification of  the alpha  value of 
    groups, which makes this library Zinc specific. 
    zlineedit:
    The zlineedit  library provides  facilities  for the  interactive 
    edition  of polylines  on  a Zinc  canvas.   The library  provides 
    facilities for both the creation of polylines and for the amending of 
    created  polylines.   When  all operations  are  allowed,  the library 
    will  arrange for users  to move, remove and  add vertices and to move 
    lines by clicking and dragging with the mouse. 
    update:
    The updater is a library that aims at facilitating the auto-update of 
    software  over  the  Internet.   It will  poll  on  demand  or 
    regularly a  location and will download any  newer version posted to 
    that  location to  a local file.   Newer versions  are detected through 
    MD5  digests, which values  are posted along  the Internet location.
    Downloads:
	http://www.sics.se/~emmanuel/?Code

    ANNOUCEMENT: Make replacement by Emmanuel Frecon
    The make library has a twin goal: providing a pure-Tcl approach to 
    expressing  dependencies and  rules  for their  resolution (as  in 
    makefiles)  and  automating the  process  of generating  (Windows) 
    binaries that are branded with your data. 
    To make it short: It is a makefile-like in pure-Tcl that provides all 
    the binaries and kits necessary to build proper Windows binaries. 
    Binary production is achieved by copying all the necessary packages 
    from their various (more or less) standard location. By proper, I mean 
    binaries that have an icon and that have resource-based properties, as 
    displayed by the "properties" tab when you right-click on a binary 
    file. 
    Once the proper rules have been written, tclsh make.tcl yourapp will 
    make yourapp.exe automagically. 
    Download:
	http://www.sics.se/~emmanuel/?Code:make

    ANNOUNCE: InstallJammer Multiplatform Installer 1.1b1 Released! by Damon Courtney
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    InstallJammer is a free, open source, multiplatform 
    GUI installer and builder designed to be completely 
    cross-platform and function on Windows and most all 
    version of UNIX with eventual support for Mac OS X.
    This is a beta release of major new features
    Homepage:
	http://www.installjammer.com
    Downloads:
	http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=148203

    ANNOUNCE: SText 0.1 by Tim Baker
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    SText is an extended Tk Text widget with features suitable for
    source-code displaying and editing. Features include displaying line
    numbers, syntax highlighting, code folding and linemarkers.
    Homepage and Download:
	http://members.shaw.ca/tnbaker/stext01/stext.html

    ANNOUNCE: tkpath 0.2.2 by Mats
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    I have added a text item, called ptext, which completes this
    package since all items (window disregarded) can now be replaced.
    It supports the same drawing model with stroke/fill as the other
    tkpath items. The font handling is not the standard Tk one and needs
    some more work. See the links below for examples and screen shots.
    More fixes:
      o rewritten gradients for Quartz (MacOSX)
      o serious bugfix when combining -matrix with move
      o added -units bbox|userspace option to linear gradients
      o minor fixes...
    Home:  
	http://tclbitprint.sourceforge.net/
    Screenshots: 
	http://tclbitprint.sourceforge.net/tkpath/quartz/index.html
	http://tclbitprint.sourceforge.net/tkpath/gdiplus/index.html
	http://tclbitprint.sourceforge.net/tkpath/cairo/index.html


ORBI: or what happened on comp.lang.tcl
    Multithreaded DLL in Singlethreaded TCL App
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...

    Man, I love [switch]!
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    The better if then else : switch!

    Problem doing fraction comparison in TCL
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...

    Can one 'move' scrollbars
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    Viewport selection from "inside"

    displaying mathematical formulas... TeX widget?
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...

    Eclipse DLTK
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...

    Libtool / Tcl stubs / cross-building probles....
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...

    Console a security issue on MS Windows?
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    
    Need Canvas Tag Help
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...

    swig question
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...
    using typemaps and such

    Remote Tcl testing on Windows from Linux
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...

TIPX: new, used and discarded Tips
    nothing new here, walk on.

OOTW: Orphan of the week or questions nobody answered yet:
    rlogin via expect mysteriously aborts when run from cron
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_frm/t...

ATTC: At the Core:
    [TCLCORE] MouseWheel and Text widget embedded windows.


Thanks to Arjen Markus for his Wiki report:
  Did you know there are so many categories of applications? 
	Well, a lot have there own Wiki page, so don't be shy and
	add your favourites. But there are plenty of other 
	pages you can read and contribute to.

	Developing applications
	- Why would you use an IDE? A SEE is just as nice ...
	  <http://wiki.tcl.tk/40> describes the idea.

	- Deep thoughts on a popwerful programming concept.
	  Developed in the realm of the Haskell functional language,
	  monads can be comfortably used in Tcl too -
	  <http://wiki.tcl.tk/17475>

	- Before you start with Apache/Rivet on Windows, have a look
	  at this page: <http://wiki.tcl.tk/17483> will save
	  you precious installation time

	Useful techniques
	- In need of a synchronisation mechanism that does not 
	  depend on the OS's facilities? Plain files may solve
	  your problems - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/15173>

	- Let your toplevel vanish from sight ... <http://wiki.tcl.tk/10515>
	  Or let your widgets blink - sometimes this is just what
	  you need. On a factory floor for instance: <http://wiki.tcl.tk/4919>

	Useful collections
	- Here is a package of extensions for displaying geographical 
	  maps and the like - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/3731>

	- In for a game of chess? Well, here is a database with historical
	  chess games - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/17490>

  
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/

    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
    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://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Tcl

    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.  In the
meantime, an alternative is
  http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=+Tcl-URL&...

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

To receive a new issue of this posting in e-mail each Monday, ask
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