Tcl/Tk For Dummies?

Just what you need -- another programming language that promises to transform your Web site into an interactive multimedia powerhouse. But before you roll your eyes, consider this: Tcl/Tk, the new scripting language from the folks who gave us Java, not only adds interactivity and multimedia to Web pages, but it's also easy to use -- even for non-programmers. And Tcl/Tk For Dummies makes easy-to-use even easier.

A practical, comprehensive reference, Tcl/Tk For Dummies introduces you to the language and what you can do with it. Authors Tim Webster and Alex Francis quickly get you up to speed writing your own tclets, compact programs that run within Web pages viewed in the Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browsing programs. The authors spell out the language's simple syntax and present the commands, procedures, functions, variables, and other elements that make up Tcl/Tk. They also show you how to use widgets, convenient, ready-to-use components that you can add to your Tcl/Tk programs.

In addition, Tcl/Tk For Dummies provides hands-on information on how to do things like

• Develop useful applications that run within a Web browser as if they were traditional, stand-alone programs running under a regular operating system
• Write platform-independent scripts that run on Windows, Mac OS, UNIX, and even on BeOS platforms
• Create animation and games to add value and fun to Web pages
• Improve your Web server's performance by shifting the burden from server-side CGI scripts to client-side Tcl/Tk scripts

Plus, the Tcl/Tk For Dummies CD-ROM includes the Mac and Windows Tcl/Tk 8.0 development software with Wish 8.0, and HTML editor, and plenty of sample code from the book.

Unix users like to write scripts--automated routines that perform tasks more quickly or efficiently than manual labor but are easier to write than full-fledged compiled programs. You can use scripts to automate many routine tasks, such as the process of creating hundreds of new user accounts. Two of the newest scripting languages are Tool Command Language and Tool Kit, most often referred to collectively as Tcl/Tk. Tcl/Tk for Dummies effectively introduces this utilitarian suite of tools and promises to have you writing useful scripts quickly.

Authors Webster and Francis begin with Wish, the editor-with-training-wheels of Tcl/Tk development. They promptly move ahead into writing source code with a text editor, requiring the reader to write a simple Tclet in the process. The authors then document the language, devoting chapters to commands, variables, substitution, control structures, lists, and strings. After that, Webster and Francis document procedures, functions, and widgets--which you use to create graphical interfaces for Tcl/Tk programs--and their exposed services.

The final portion of this book will prove useful to those attempting to solve simple problems with Tcl/Tk. The authors assemble a menagerie of Tclets (on the companion CD-ROM) that you can use as they are or modify to fit slightly different purposes. These canned Tclets include some Internet-ready samples, which illustrate the languages' capacities to work with URLs and network data.