Take the next step with Tcl/Tk development with this practical programming style guide. The Tcl scripting language and the Tk toolkit together create a programming environment for creating graphical user interfaces under the X Window System and MS Windows 95/NT. This book offers a wealth of practical information on how to exploit the full potential of this remarkable programming environment.

You need a graphical user interface, and it needs to run on multiple platforms. You don't have much time, and you're not a wizard with X/Motif, the Win32 GUI, or the Mac GUI. The project seems impossible, but with Tcl/Tk it's simple and fun.

The Tcl scripting language and the Tk toolkit create a powerful programming environment for building graphical user interfaces. With two lines of code you can create a simple button; with two hundred lines of code, a desktop calculator; and with a thousand lines of code, an industrial-strength groupware calendar and appointment minder. Your applications run on all of the major platforms: UNIX, Windows 95/NT, and Macintosh. You can even embed your programs in a Web page to make them available online.

Mark Harrison and Michael McLennan, two noted Tcl/Tk experts, combine their extensive experience in this practical programming guide. It is ideal for developers who are acquainted with the basics of Tcl/Tk and are now moving on to build real applications.

Effective Tcl/Tk Programming shows you how to build Tcl/Tk applications effectively and efficiently through plenty of real-world advice. It clarifies some of the more powerful aspects of Tcl/Tk, such as the packer, the canvas widget, and binding tags. The authors describe valuable design strategies and coding techniques that will make your Tcl/Tk projects successful. You will learn how to:

• Create interactive displays with the canvas widget
• Create customized editors with the text widget
• Create new geometry managers, like tabbed notebooks or paned windows
• Implement client/server architectures
• Handle data structures
• Interface with existing applications
• Package Tcl/Tk code into reusable libraries
• Deliver Tcl/Tk applications that are easy to configure and install
• Embed applications in a Web page
• Build applications that will run on multiple platforms

Throughout the book, the authors develop numerous applications and a library of reusable components. Learn from their approach, follow their strategies, and steal their code for your own applications! But don't bother retyping all of the examples.

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Based on the author's experience building and deploying mission-critical Tcl software and teaching others to do the same, this book offers information on how to exploit the full potential of this programming environment. It explains Tcl features that have no counterpart in conventional programming languages, in particular readers should gain an in-depth understanding of two fundamental Tcl/Tk concepts - Quoting and Packing.