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- # $Id: help_tcltk.tcl,v 1.2 1994/05/26 19:23:23 mjl Exp $
- # $Log: help_tcltk.tcl,v $
- # Revision 1.2 1994/05/26 19:23:23 mjl
- # Inserted missing CVS Id and Log fields.
- #
- #----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- # help_tcltk w
- #
- # Create a top-level window that displays info for On Tcl/TK.. help item.
- # Maurice LeBrun, IFS
- # Adapted from mkStyles.tcl from widget demo.
- #
- # Arguments:
- # w - Name to use for new top-level window.
- #----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- proc help_tcltk {{w .help_tcltk}} {
- catch {destroy $w}
- toplevel $w
- dpos $w
- wm title $w "Help on Tcl/TK"
- wm iconname $w "help_tcltk"
- normal_text_setup $w 64
-
- insertWithTags $w.t {\
- Tcl/TK (written by John Ousterhout, UC Berkeley) is rapidly gaining in
- popularity, and already has a world-wide following. Software developers
- usually prefer it to Motif for building user interfaces due to the higher
- level of abstraction employed by Tcl/TK. Widgets can be easily created,
- destroyed, and manipulated via simple Tcl expressions. Further, Tcl/TK is
- non-proprietary, so you can in principle run it on any X-based platform,
- as well as have unrestricted access to the source code. The package is
- well documented, with a book on Tcl/TK due out in late 1993 (draft copies
- are available via anonymous ftp), numerous man pages, and a Usenet
- newsgroup comp.lang.tcl for discussion of all aspects of using Tcl/TK.
-
- Some selected excerpts from the Tcl/TK "Frequently Asked Questions" list
- follow:
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------
-
- From: FAQ General information
- Subject: -II- What is Tcl? Tk? Extended Tcl?
-
- Tcl (Version 6.7) stands for ``tool command language'' and is
- pronounced ``tickle.'' It is actually two things: a language and a
- library. First, Tcl is a simple textual language, intended primarily for
- issuing commands to interactive programs such as text editors, debuggers,
- illustrators, and shells. It has a simple syntax and is also
- programmable, so Tcl users can write command procedures to provide more
- powerful commands than those in the built-in set.
-
- Second, Tcl is a library package that can be embedded in application
- programs. The Tcl library consists of a parser for the Tcl language,
- routines to implement the Tcl built-in commands, and procedures that allow
- each application to extend Tcl with additional commands specific to that
- application. The application program generates Tcl commands and passes
- them to the Tcl parser for execution. Commands may be generated by
- reading characters from an input source, or by associating command strings
- with elements of the application's user interface, such as menu entries,
- buttons, or keystrokes. When the Tcl library receives commands it parses
- them into component fields and executes built-in commands directly. For
- commands implemented by the application, Tcl calls back to the application
- to execute the commands. In many cases commands will invoke recursive
- invocations of the Tcl interpreter by passing in additional strings to
- execute (procedures, looping commands, and conditional commands all work
- in this way).
-
- An application program gains three advantages by using Tcl for its
- command language. First, Tcl provides a standard syntax: once users know
- Tcl, they will be able to issue commands easily to any Tcl-based
- application. Second, Tcl provides programmability. All a Tcl application
- needs to do is to implement a few application-specific low-level commands.
- Tcl provides many utility commands plus a general programming interface
- for building up complex command procedures. By using Tcl, applications
- need not re-implement these features. Third, extensions to Tcl, such as
- the Tk toolkit, provide mechanisms for communicating between applications
- by sending Tcl commands back and forth. The common Tcl language framework
- makes it easier for applications to communicate with one another.
-
- Tk (Version 3.2) - an extension to Tcl which provides the programmer
- with an interface to the X11 windowing system. Note that many users will
- encounter Tk via the ``wish'' command. Wish is a simple windowing shell
- which permits the user to write Tcl applications in a prototyping
- environment.
-
- Extended Tcl (tclX) (Version 6.7c) - This extended set of commands are
- provided by NeoSoft, and provide additional Unix system interfaces to the
- Tcl programmer. Many users will encounter Tcl via the ``tcl'' command -
- an interactive Tcl command interpreter.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: FAQ Tcl/Tk Package Catalog
- Subject: -XI- Where can I get these packages?
-
- The "home site" for Tcl on the Internet is sprite.berkeley.edu.
- Sprite is an experimental research machine whose IP servers
- occasionally flake out. If you find that sprite is refusing
- connections, send mail to "root@sprite.berkeley.edu", wait a few
- hours, and try again.
-
- Tcl and Extended Tcl were posted to comp.sources.misc, appearing
- In volume 25 and then Tcl appeared again in volume 26 and can be found at
- most comp.sources.misc archive sites in the tcl and tclx directories.
- These are quite old versions actually, but are still usable.
-
- a. Tcl - available on sprite.berkeley.edu and harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
- b. Tk - available on sprite.berkeley.edu and harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
- c. Extended Tcl - available on sprite.berkeley.edu and harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
-
- The IP address for harbor.ecn.purdue.edu is 128.46.128.76 .
- sprite.berkeley.edu is a CNAME for allspice.Berkeley.EDU, whose
- IP address is 128.32.150.27.
-
- Other sites which either mirror the Tcl/Tk submissions or have special
- versions are:
-
- ftp.uu.net:/languages/tcl <- sprite only
- gatekeeper.dec.com:/.0/BSD/UCB/sprite <- sprite only
- sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/languages/tcl
- ftp.ibp.fr:/pub/tcl <- distrib, contrib, expect
- syd.dit.csiro.au:/pub/tk <- contrib and sprite
-
- iskut.ucs.ubc.ca:/pub/X11/tcl
- ftp.funet.fi:/pub/languages/tcl
- coma.cs.tu-berlin.ed:/pub/tcl
- nic.funet.fi:/pub/languages/tcl
- oskgate0.mei.co.jp:/free/X/toolkits/tcl <- sprite only
-
- sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux <- contains port of extended Tcl and
- extended Tk to this OS.
-
- --------------------------------------
-
- From: -XI- Where can I get these packages?
- Subject: -A- Retrieving Tcl and Tk
-
-
- >From: ouster@sprite.Berkeley.EDU (John Ousterhout)
- >Newsgroups: comp.lang.tcl
- >Subject: Obtaining Tcl/Tk sources
-
- For people new to the Tcl/Tk community, here is information on how
- to obtain Tcl and Tk sources. The information below describes what
- I distribute; other information is available from other machines
- also, such as harbor.ecn.purdue.edu.
-
- The sources and documentation for the Tcl command
- language library, for the Tk toolkit, and for a few Tcl-based
- applications, are in the public FTP area on sprite.berkeley.edu.
- All of these files are in the "tcl" subdirectory of the FTP area.
- Here is a catalog of what's available. Most of the files are
- compressed tar files ("xxx.tar.Z"). There is some overlap
- between the contents of the various packages.
-
- tk3.2.tar.Z - This is the latest release of the Tk toolkit, released
- in February 1993. It includes a complete copy of the
- Tcl V6.7 release (the version of Tcl with which it is
- compatible) plus a simple windowing shell called
- "wish". If you retrieve this file you don't need to
- retrieve Tcl separately.
-
- tcl6.7.tar.Z - This is the newest release of the Tcl library.
- It became available in February 1993. This package
- includes only the Tcl library and its documentation,
- plus a simple main program for testing.
-
- tclX6.5c.tar.Z - Extended Tcl (or NeoSoft Tcl), created by Mark
- Diekhans and Karl Lehenbauer, which adds a number
- of useful facilities to the base Tcl release.
- Among the things in Extended Tcl are a Tcl shell,
- many new commands for things like UNIX kernel
- call access and math library routines, and an
- on-line help facility. This file is based on
- Tcl 6.5 and also works with Tcl 6.6, 6.7 and Tk 3.1,
- Tk 3.2
-
- Note that tclX6.5c-6.7c.update.shar.Z exists on
- the purdue archive site.
-
- book.p1.ps.Z Compressed Postscript for a draft of the first part
- of an upcoming book on Tcl and Tk to be published in
- 1993 by Addison-Wesley. This part of the book
- describes the Tcl language and how to write scripts
- in it. About 130 pages in length.
-
- book.p2.ps.Z Compressed Postscript for a draft of the second part
- of an upcoming book on Tcl and Tk to be published in
- 1993 by Addison-Wesley. This part of the book
- describes the Tk extension and how to write scripts
- in it. About 130 pages in length.
-
- tclUsenix90.ps - Postscript for a paper on Tcl that appeared in the
- Winter 1990 USENIX Conference. This paper is also
- included in the Tcl and Tk distributions.
-
- tkUsenix91.ps - Postscript for a paper on Tk that appeared in the
- Winter 1991 USENIX Conference. This paper is also
- included in the Tk distribution.
-
- tkF10.ps - Postscript for Figure 10 of the Tk paper.
-
- tut.tar.Z - A collection of materials from a full-day tutorial
- on Tcl and Tk. Includes viewgraphs from five one-hour
- talks plus a sample widget.
-
- In addition, there may be older releases of some or all of the above
- files; look for files with earlier release numbers.
-
-
- To retrieve any or all of these packages, use anonymous FTP to
- sprite.berkeley.edu (Internet address 128.32.150.27). Use user
- "anonymous"; when asked for a password, type your login name. Then
- retrieve the relevant file(s) with the commands like the following:
- type image (try "type binary" if this command is rejected)
- cd tcl
- get tk3.2.tar.Z
-
- Be sure to retrieve files in image mode (type "type image" to FTP)
- in order to make sure that you don't lose bits.
-
- Any file with a .Z extension is a compressed file, which means you must
- use the "uncompress" program to get back a normal file. For example, for
- the file tk3.2.tar.Z, you should type
-
- uncompress tk3.2.tar.Z
-
- once you've retrieved the file. This will produce a file named "tk3.2.tar".
- Then you will need to use tar to extract the members. Typically one
- would use a command such as:
-
- tar xv tk3.2.tar
-
- to extract the pieces.
-
- Each of the releases has a README file in the top-level directory that
- describes how to compile the release, where to find documentation, etc.
-
- Questions or problems about any of these distributions should be directed
- to "John Ousterhout" <ouster@cs.berkeley.edu>.
-
- If you don't have access to Sprite, you can also retrieve some or
- all of the above files from other FTP repositories. Here is a
- sampler of machines that store some or all of the Tcl/Tk information,
- plus the directories in which to check:
-
- ftp.uu.net: /languages/tcl/*
- export.lcs.mit.edu: /contrib/tk*
- harbor.ecn.purdue.edu: /pub/tcl/*
-
- --------------------------------------
-
- From: -XI- Where can I get these packages?
- Subject: -B- Accessing the Tcl/Tk User Contributions Archive
-
- Contributions to the Tcl/Tk Contrib Archive are most welcome --
- please upload them to:
-
- harbor.ecn.purdue.edu:/incoming [128.46.128.76]
-
- send the archive maintainer <tcl-archive@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu> a note stating
- the names of the files you uploaded and a brief description for the
- index.
-
- Harbor is the central file server for the software staff of the
- Engineering Computer Network, so please try to refrain from FTPing
- stuff between 9am and 5pm EST (GMT -0500). No mail-archive service is
- planned as yet -- users without FTP capability should use one of the
- following mail-based FTP services (send mail to the appropriate address
- with "help" in the body):
-
- BITNET users: BITFTP <bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu>
- Others: "DEC ftpmail" <ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com>
- Europe: ftpmail@grasp1.univ-lyon1.fr
- mail-server@ftp.tu-clausthal.de
- } normal
- $w.t configure -state disabled
- $w.t mark set insert 0.0
- }
-