TCL as a server-side programming language

Question

I am going to create a web application (application) and am interested in using DHTML and TCL. I have been developing applications in TCL for some time and I feel quite comfortable using this language. I have experience using Visual Studio (VS) to write web applications where server-side code is in C #. VS makes this incredibly simple and pretty simple.

Does anyone have any IDE suggestions that will allow me to write client HTML / Javascript code and TCL server side code similar to VS? I took the book "Web Tcl Complete", but it does not seem to provide information on combining Tcl with DHTML.

Thanks,

Damion

Answer 1

I work for a company that makes its web applications at tcl exclusivley. It will not bring you any rewards, but for this it is a very viable platform. DHTML is processed in the same way as other server languages, it is server-like, like any other html, because it is a client. We use AOLserver . Despite the terrible name (aol !! ??), it is a good platform and does everything that can be done in php / jsp / asp and much more. Threading is very simple :). AOLserver has been the fastest web server for many years.

You simply upload tcl scripts (.tcl files contain the logic of your business) and .adp files (your view code and dhtml) to the server and run them. All aolserver codes are written in either c or tcl.

Very nice IDE for tcl Komodo .

Be prepared to cry for tcl, but it's a very mature language with libraries to do anything.: D Most people just don't like the syntax, but as you know, it's very simple.

Oh yes, if you are in the bay area, I could get you an interview ;) Tcl programmers are pretty scarce here.

Answer 2

I'm not quite sure which language / paradigm / design template you used to write web applications in VS, because how you write a web application usually does not depend on which IDE you use. But overall, there are two approaches to writing web applications:

• The old school way - Creating user interface elements from application code. This is the approach used by libraries such as CGI.pm in Perl or the Google Web Toolkit in Java. On the plus side, this is a familiar design pattern for desktop developers, where the user interface and business logic are processed in the same language. The downside is that as soon as you finally know and fully accept HTML, CSS and Javascript, doing something complex, modern, advanced, and Web2.0-ish becomes a huge pain.

• The modern way is that application code simply generates data structures that will be consumed either by HTML template modeling engines or by AJAX requests from the front end. The downside is that what is actually good for HTML, CSS and Javascript requires a steep learning curve. On the other hand, you will become the best web developer who will conveniently implement something like google maps.

I would recommend a modern way because you mentioned web APPS. If it were just a website, then the old school would have been enough. Thus, the answer to the second part of your question is to get to know HTML, CSS and Javascript and use HTML templates to combine application logic and (D) HTML (part D has little to do with templates and has more to do with understanding how to use javascript).

For the first part of your question, though, I also recommend Komodo. This is good with HTML and CSS, and it is excellent with tcl and javascript. I cannot afford a full Komodo environment, so I use Komodo free editing, but even Komodo Edit is more than enough to create web applications.

Answer 3

Following Byron's answer, AOLServer is a good candidate, but if you are interested in using apache as your web server, then there is mod_tcl ( http://tcl.apache.org/mod_tcl/ ) that allows you to use Tcl as a server in ( similar to php).

I have not tried this for several years, but lately I remember that it worked very well.

Answer 4

I found cgi.tcl (at expect.nist.gov) very useful for the server part ...