if any of you ever write a GUI application

thetza · Post by **thetza** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:07 am

I'd like to share something. I've wasted a significant portion of my life trying various GUI toolkits like Gtk, Qt, wxWindows, Fltk, Fox, etc with their various bindings to c/c++/ruby/perl/python. Yet, in the end, I've settled with Tcl/Tk. People mock both Tcl and Tk because its old and ugly and weird, but here's why its beautiful:
1) Its fucking simple, Tcl has exactly one syntax to remember.
2) Tk's canvas widget and event system is far more powerful and easier to understand than Qt or Gtk.
3) Its incredibly extensible. Command line programs fit seemlessly into the language, and extending it with C/C++/java is relatively easy.
4) Unlike Perl/Ruby/Python, its not a huge language with huge libraries to memorize.
5) Really, its fucking simple.
6) Its everywhere, its free, its portable.
I consider myself a decent C programmer, and I have absolutely no clue how GNOME programmers stay sane. So if you would like to retain your sanity while gui-ing, i implore you to give tcl/tk a serious consideration.
</2cents>

Jza · Post by **Jza** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 8:58 pm

I preffer HTML

Post by **dann** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:12 pm

I was learning tcl/tk for a bit there, but dropped it due to lack of time. I was enjoying it though, some good stuff.

CptnObvious999 · Post by **CptnObvious999** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:11 pm

I used the Python Tk/Tcl API. However it didn't intergrate as nicely as wxPython (or wxWidgets) and didn't have that many widgets if I remember correctly.

Gomer_X · Post by **Gomer_X** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:44 am

I've actually been playing with Perl/Tk for a little while. I tried it mostly because it's cross-platorm and Tk comes with ActivePerl for Windows.

For me it wouldn't be worth using Tcl because I already know Perl. I don't care how simple Tcl is, I'd still have to learn it.

I'm still bothered by the fact that Tk is ugly. It's OK for personal things, but if I were going to release something I'd think about using Gtk.