Tcl-URL! - weekly Tcl news and links (May 28)

QOTW:  "[W]e know the rules of coincidence around here... The million-to-one
chance will happen nine times out of ten." - ee


    Alexandre and Donal practice Tcl-think:  simplify, simplify.
    It might look like a problem in remote filesystem access, but,
    as so often, it's confused quoting/lexification/substitution:
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...

    Similarly, [eof] is a FCC:
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...
	http://phaseit.net/claird/comp.lang.tcl/fmm.html#eof
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...

    If you're most compatible with, say, Unix's shell, the transition
    to Tcl can be very, very gradual:
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...

    Progressbar theming subtleties teach patterns that apply to
    other widgets:
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...

    Don't let [update] make you race yourself:
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...
	http://wiki.tcl.tk/1255

    Fossil-based life involves a few changes--ultimately for the
    better, we all hope.  Here's how to think about "the latest
    sources":
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...

    Alternatives within and to [switch]:
        http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...

    If you truly need a thread pool, well, Tcl has *that*, too:
	http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.tcl/browse_threa...


Thanks to Arjen Markus for his mostly-weekly Wiki reports:
  Should you find yourself without anything to do the next few weeks,
  be sure to download the various games the Wiki hold. The Recent Changes
  page shows quite a few.
  
  A small sample of games
  - TkOverload is a rather "explosive" game, as one inaccurate move
    may set off a whole chain of changes - <http//wiki.tcl.tk/4354>
  
  - The classical game of "minesweeper", and I do mean the classical!,
    revived - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/7779>
  
  - The "Black Box" game is less destructive, but again you need to
    find hidden objects - <http:/wiki.tcl.tk/15875>
  
  A small sample of experiments
  - Does the old Chinese book of fortune telling do better than our
    sophisticated weather forecast models, when it comes to predicting
    the weather? Try it yourself: <http://wiki.tcl.tk/26633>
  
  - Always good to explore the bounds of your language and the programming
    paradigms it makes possible. Why not use procedures to store data?
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/3379> is a somewhat older experiment.
  
  - SELF, the language, has been a nice playground to experiment with
    language features. It can still inspire people to do wonderful
    new things - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/9529>
  
  - Functional programming may not be entirely easy in Tcl, but experiments
    abound - <http://wiki.tcl.tk/17983> is but one example
  
  A new package
  - The title does not convey much information, but this page
    <http://wiki.tcl.tk/27189> leads to a "public key infrastructure"
    package. Yes, cryptography stuff.
  

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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