Re: [TCLUG:17411] [severely OT] Tcl vs Perl

[Eric <eric@urbanrage.com>]

Phil Plumbo wrote:

> From the my-religion-is-better-than-yours dept.: I would like to hear
> informed opinions on the relative merits of perl vs Tcl as the programming
> language of choice for an open-source GUI project now forming.
>
> The guy behind this project has developed a very nice, generalized GUI for
> machine tool control, but has reached a dead end. The protoype was written
> in VB under Windows. He wants to port to linux so he can use rtlinux and
> also to interface with the killer CNC app 'NIST EMC', a linux-based CNC
> back-end that is well-established.
>
> He is looking at a total rewrite.  There is a large base of Tcl code
> associated with NIST EMC, and all of the current GUIs are written in Tcl.
> The logical choice would seem to be to use Tcl.
>
> He would, however, prefer to use perl/Tk. In his words:
>
>   "One of the major reasons Im stopping the work on my VB program is that
>   the underlying data structure is not good. I cannot use the VB Object
>   stuff, since my .dll  limits me to the 16bit VB, so that forces just
>   about everything to be global variables, since procedures can only
>   return a single value. I have done some reading on Tcl/tk and find the
>   same problems.
>
>   I would much prefer to write in Perl/Tk. All the data handing could then
>   be object oriented and much more robust. We could also use the Perl
>   module mechanisms to add code.
>
>   Im very sure that the success of CPNC will depend heavily on the data
>   structure under it. I dont think Tcl will give us the structure we need."
>
> This sounds a little bogus to me. I don't have much experience with Tcl, but
> I don't see why it would limit one's choice of data structure that much.
> Comments?
>
> Philip S. Plumbo           | Printware, Inc.
> psp@printwareinc.com       | 1270 Eagan Industrial Rd. | voice: 651-456-1400
> http://printwareinc.com    | St. Paul, MN 55121  USA   |   fax: 651-454-3684
>
>

I have worked extensively in both tcl/tk and perl/tk and I much prefer perl as
a programming language.  I think it is easier to write and maintain and the tk
objects are more intuitive (even though they are pretty much the same
constructs (I used a tcl/tk book to write my first perl/tk programs)).

However Sun released a netscape component for tcl/tk that runs under
macos/solaris/winblows ( I don't know about linux, but the solaris version
probably could be ported if it hasn't already).  That lets you run tcl/tk
programs (albeit slightly modified from their original form) via a web browser
(just like javascript and java).  It's very cool and fast (much faster than
java).  This was a couple of years ago so I don't know how available it still
is, but Sun used to have a very nice demo page with downloadable source.

imho use perl/tk

Eric