Despite its frequently obtuse syntax, Tcl/Tk enjoys a large and enthusiastic following. It's king of the world when it comes to building graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for C programs (particularly those running in X Windows environments), which is what the language originally was invented to do. Tcl/Tk (which is pronounced "tickle tee-kay," and which stands for "Tool Control Language/Toolkit" despite the abbreviation's unusual capitalization) is expanding its scope to encompass fields as diverse as voice scripting and molecular visualization. The latest edition of Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk, the fourth, offers an encyclopedic guide to Tcl/Tk that not only helps programmers solve problems, but enables them to conceive new applications for the language.

The new edition of Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk covers Tcl 8.4, particularly its versatile new Virtual File System (VFS) capabilities that allow you to include FTP sites and other remote directories in ordinary File Save and File Open interfaces. Further new coverage goes to Starkits, with which you can bundle Tcl/Tk programs for deployment, and some new Tk elements. Otherwise, the book is generally revised and improved with additional examples (the sample code has always been one of this book's main attractions) and intelligently laid-out keyword tables. It has a great lay-flat binding, too. This book (with John Ousterhout's Tcl and the Tk Toolkit) remains one of the two must-have Tcl/Tk books. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Tcl programming language and the Tk toolkit on which it most usually operates. Sections cover basic and advance programming techniques, specific aspects of Tk widgets, and extending the C library that defines Tcl. Copious examples make it easier to understand (and quickly employ) effective design strategies.


From Book News, Inc.
Updated to cover version 8.4, this handbook explains the features and commands of the scripting language TcL (Tool Command Language) and its associated graphical user-interface toolkit, Tk. Every command of the language is covered and the platforms and frameworks for application development are described. The relationship of TcL to C programming is also discussed. The CD-ROM contains all the code from the text, as well as source and binary distributions of Tcl/Tk, Tcl extensions, and tools for the major operating systems.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"The world's #1 guide to Tcl/Tk has been updated to reflect Tcl/Tk 8.4's powerful improvements in functionality, flexibility, and performance. Brent Welch, Ken Jones, and Jeffrey Hobbs, three of the world's leading Tcl/Tk experts, cover every facet of Tcl/Tk programming, including cross-platform scripting and GUI development, networking, enterprise application integration, and much more." "Coverage includes: systematic explanations and sample code for all Tcl/Tk 8.4 core commands; complete Tk GUI development guidance - perfect for developers working with Perl, Python, or Ruby; insider's insights into Tcl 8.4's key enhancements - VFS layer, internationalized font/character set support, new widgets, and more; definitive coverage of TclHttpd web server (written by its creator); new ways to leverage Tcl/Tk 8.4's major performance improvements; and advanced coverage - threading, Safe Tcl, Tcl script library, regular expressions, and namespaces." Whether you're upgrading to Tcl/Tk 8.4, or building GUIs for applications created with other languages or just searching for a better cross-platform scripting solution, Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk, Fourth Edition delivers all you need to get results.

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