Tcl Tk

[incr-tcl/tk] from the Ground Up

Format: Paperback
Author: Chad Smith
ReleaseDate: 15 January, 2000
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Rating:

incomplete but necessary reference
But tcl/tk is very high programming ground to begin with. The book treats "incr-tcl/tk from the ground up," as it says.

Brent Welch's books are outstanding starting points in tcl/tk. Further, I stumbled on a CDROM with the tcl/tk/iWidgets manual pages in html. The CDROM has enabled me to play with iWidgets without wearing out the paper pages of this valued book.

In short, this book SHOULD be supplemented in a hoped for second edition.

Be sure you want a book on the INCR extension of Tck/Tk !
The first two examples in the book were impenetrable on a line-by-line basis, but only because I have no Tcl/Tk background to understand the keywords and parameters. Be sure you know Tcl/Tk and want a book on the INCR extension of the language!

When this book arrived, I found the subtitle "From the Ground Up" was misleading to a Tck/Tk-know-nothing like me. What the examples were about was clear from the good choice of variable/procedure names in the code, but since I don't know and can't find out what "wm", "pack", "deiconify" do exactly, and what parameters they take, that was the end of the book for me.

Had I known (more than?) a few Tcl basics, I may have kept this book. If you already know Tcl/Tk, this book is probably great for going on to the "[incr]" version of the language. I just don't know if the extensions are important yet. My planned use for Tcl is probably on the fringe.

The book itself is a nicely massive 4 lbs (according to my bathroom scale - so give me slack of +/-1 lb at least!) There is no CD-ROM with the book. . .

This is NOT a book larded with mostly-useless screen shots to bring up the page count. All 746 pages look like they are full of good info, with probably only one diagram for every 25 pages. The text has about a 50:50 mix of code:explanation, there is a huge reference section (appropriate for this kind of book) and a 20-page index. The book measures 7&3/8" wide, 9&1/8" tall, and a nice 2 inches thick.

Browsing the table of contents, the first 13 chapters cover the sort of practical subject matter I'd want to know about AFTER being familiar with Tcl/Tk; the mind-set, orientation, and approaches to using the language to get something done, but certainly NOT from a simple Tcl/Tk syntax and reserved words standpoint. (That's what I wanted, though). The 14th chapter is nearly 1/2 the book and is a programmer's reference for the Iwidgets. Each 5 page (on average) Iwidget treatment looks like JUST the sort of complete and detailed info I'd want. The Iwidgets look like all the sorts of things I'd want if I were developing windowed user applications.

I may buy this book after acquainting myself with Tcl/Tk: browsing the book has interested me in using the [incr] extensions - but only if what vanilla Tcl offers is too rudimentary.

I do NOT agree with the statement on both front and back covers: "Open This Book as a Novice and Finish It as a Pro". I have programmed in most languages for over 30 years, and this book wastes NO TIME going over what a novice needs to know. I'm trading down to an introductory book. But I may come back!

I very much agree with the book's cover when it says: "The Accelerated Track for Professional Programmers", I concur with that view. But "From the Ground Up" and "Open This Book as a Novice. . . " are simply inappropriate on the cover of this book. The word "lies" comes to mind.

I'm almost tempted to read some web tutorials on Tcl and keep this book, but I can flip pages to review and reference material much faster with hard copy, and probably won't need [incr] extensions for my project.

step by step, never leave you behind....

it was well written, and easy to follow. the author guides you through how to develope object oriented software in Tcl (using [incr Tcl/Tk] extension). examples are well explained, including why certain things are defined/designed from his perspective.

the book covers OO programming in Tcl and Tk, debugging technique and even integrating [incr Tcl] with C/C++.

the font size and layout is also easy on the eyes and definitely helps towards providing a good read.