3 ms·

Everything being a string at a language level is similar to the paradigm as 'everything is an object' in java. Outside of select use-cases (scripts/text proc),

by jadbox 7y ago

Everything being a string at a language level is similar to the paradigm as 'everything is an object' in java. Outside of select use-cases (scripts/text proc), the language generally fights against both conciseness and performance. I worked with UCLA where a few teams needed to use Tcl to maintain existing web servers, and virtually every developer highly complained about using it (aside from one or two career Tcl-ers). To be honest, I don't personally have much experience with Tcl, but from what I've seen/heard, I wouldn't ever think of building web servers upon it.

Mountain_Skies 7y ago
One of my first jobs after college involved creating websites using Vignette StoryServer. At the time Tcl was the only language you could use with it. I was happy when a new version was released that supported Java and ASP. Tcl looked like voodoo magic to me but I'm sure for those who really got it, they were pretty productive with it.
- kiwidrew 7y ago
  You've brought back some painful memories for me. I'm permanently allergic to the words "lindex" and "upvar", and cringe whenever I see a "," character in a URL... Vignette's only redeeming qualities were that: (1) the page templates permitted the execution of arbitrary Tcl code, not just the small subset that was documented by Vignette; and (2) much of the Vignette functionality was itself actually implemented in Tcl. This led to the glorious discovery that one could simply bypass the entire crazy Vignette system and use it like a very expensive (and somewhat slower) AOLserver. I sometimes feel sorry for the poor souls who inherited my terrifying and entirely undocumented creation, but that's what happens when management forces developers to use the entirely wrong tool for the task at hand. ("We spent $100k USD on this software so we're damn well going to use it!")

by jadbox 7y ago

Mountain_Skies 7y ago

One of my first jobs after college involved creating websites using Vignette StoryServer. At the time Tcl was the only language you could use with it. I was happy when a new version was released that supported Java and ASP. Tcl looked like voodoo magic to me but I'm sure for those who really got it, they were pretty productive with it.

kiwidrew 7y ago
You've brought back some painful memories for me. I'm permanently allergic to the words "lindex" and "upvar", and cringe whenever I see a "," character in a URL... Vignette's only redeeming qualities were that: (1) the page templates permitted the execution of arbitrary Tcl code, not just the small subset that was documented by Vignette; and (2) much of the Vignette functionality was itself actually implemented in Tcl. This led to the glorious discovery that one could simply bypass the entire crazy Vignette system and use it like a very expensive (and somewhat slower) AOLserver. I sometimes feel sorry for the poor souls who inherited my terrifying and entirely undocumented creation, but that's what happens when management forces developers to use the entirely wrong tool for the task at hand. ("We spent $100k USD on this software so we're damn well going to use it!")